Legend of Finn the Hero
by jtbruce
Summary: Deep within in the web of the multiverse. Prismo detected the presence of a great and familiar evil. To deal with it, Prismo sent his best man for the job.
1. Chapter 1

The world is not what many think it to be. For there is not just one world, instead there exist what you could call a multiverse. A near infinite number of worlds each filled with their own unique form of life. But within this infinite amount of life there was a problem. Worlds were disappearing. Consumed devoured gone Without a Trace. Such a massive events were also commonplace in the infinite multitude of Creation.

Even now such an event was taking place as multiple worlds were forcibly converged into one singular world to then be devoured. Such a horrific event would normally never be witnessed in the vast void of the multiverse. Except in this case as two being were finally able to observed this destruction of worlds. They watched through vastness and emptiness of creation from a simple yellow room. A space that exist outside of time in that room the two beings watched.

The first being stretched out along the room. Less a person and more a living shadow his head touched the ceiling and his body laid along the wall with his legs covering the floor. He was also entirely pink with bright blue eyes.

The second was a simple man figure in a tattered hooded cloak. The strangest thing about him was the cat ears sticking out atop his head and lizard like tail slipping beneath his cloak.

"Oh no, this is bad, this is really, really bad." The shadow man spoke fear in his voice.

"Don't sound so scared, Prismo." The hooded man said cheerfully. "It's not as bad as it looks and early enough, I can handle this with minimal collateral damage." He raised a hand at the convergence of worlds, lights began gathering around his outstretched arm quickly turning into a gauntlet. It was unique as it looked as if several swords were smashed together to form the shape of a gauntlet.

"Okay no, just hold on there a second, Arc." Prismo reached out an arm and the screen in front of them disappeared. "You know if you do that millions of people would die."

"They're going to die regardless. Besides you know if I get to close to this thing They would flee into the void and we'd never be able to track them down again." Arc sighed. "We were lucky enough to find it this time. And only a few million people will have to die."

"I know." Prismo said placating. "But the people of that world seem to have a plan to deal with it. So why don't we just let them."

"You sure? I mean if it was any nascent would-be god, we could have let the people of that world deal with it. But it's not and you know it's not." Arc replied eyes cold and voice unfeeling. "It was _your _mistakes that let this spiral out of control like it has and this might be our only chance at saving the rest of Creation. So, if only a few worlds must disappear to kill them, then I'm sorry that is what I'm going to do."

"Listen I have an idea. See, I know a guy that has a surprisingly good track record of stopping this type of thing. Just let me tweak one of their world's summoning rituals to bring him there. Then we just sit back and watch him work."

"When he fails." Arc spoke as if it was inevitable. "And your boss finds out we had a chance to stop them but didn't. The both of us are in a world of trouble."

"If my guy fails which he won't, then you can erase the world and him along with it. I'll even through in a Wish to make it happen." Prismo said.

"You'll be risking that instead of millions dying it would be billions." Arc warned.

"I trust him, he never let me down before." Prismo said.

Arc looked back from the wall where the worlds were displayed to Prismo. They stared each other down then Arc sighed. "What's his name?"

**XxX**

"Finn Mertens you stop moving about this instant. You're going to ruin your new upgrades!" A stern and slightly electronic voice shouted aloud.

"But Mom, it's cold and I'm bored." Finn whined as he pushed his blonde hair out of his blue eyes with his left hand. Turning away from the harsh glare of light in front of him to a blond woman in the white lab coat and blue scrubs leaning over to the right of him. Finn in nothing but a pair of blue jeans relaxed as best he could atop the cold metal operating table he's been stuck on since the day begin. Looking away from where his right arm used to be. "How much longer is this going to take?"

His mother said nothing as she poked and prodded at Finn's right shoulder with a small flame emanating from her fingertip. Occasionally small sparks would fly from the metal covering most of Finn's shoulder, causing him to flinch as pain sparked through him with every tap.

To distract himself, Finn took some time they examine the lab was in. Large white room with various monitors each displaying information on some weird experiments or a strange observation lining the walls with a couple of tables in the center. Glass and Metal tubes filled with either a strange mixture or the body of a creature rested on one of the tables close by. Across another one sat a large chemistry set. Even though Finn's been around these types of things most of his life he still couldn't tell what any of this stuff meant. Several minutes passed without her saying anything irritating Finn who opened his mouth to ask again.

"As long as it takes to get this done." A third voice cut in. She unlike the other two who's skin was a pale white, her skin was completely pink her hair but in a darker shade. Dress in a pink turtleneck and jeans covered by a white lab coat. In her hands she carried a metal arm the same size as Finn's left one albeit a bit bulkier that she placed down next to his mother. "All finished, Minerva?"

"Yes, Princess Bubblegum, the new base seems to be functioning as intended. No undue stress on the body or any infection. I think we're ready for the next part. It's just such a shame that we had to cut off the remainder of his arm to make room for it." Minerva answered as she steps away from Finn to let Princess Bubblegum take her place.

"You can just call me Bonnie, Minerva." Princess Bubblegum said as she slowly lined up the arm next to Finn shoulder. She looked him in the eye. "This is going to hurt."

"Not the first time we've done this." Finn replied. He took a sharp breath as Princess Bubblegum pushed the arm into his shoulder. The click it made as a connected coincided with the sharp pain Finn felt as his nervous system connected to his arm. He clenched both his fist then let go as the pain subsided.

Pushing himself up to a sitting position Finn held his arm out for Bonnie as she made him move each individual finger and then form different shapes with his hand.

"Okay, looks good." Bonnie said as she poked and prodded Finn's arm. Stepping away Bonnie grabbed a handheld device. "That about dose it. Just have to run through a couple of things and then you're good to go."

"What things?" Finn asked as he put on a blue shirt sleeve shirt.

"I'm glad you asked, Finn." Bonnie held an elbow with one hand and cupped her face with the other. "You're first three arms, while they did do their job, there was nothing really special about them. Your new arm on the other hand has had functions added to it. This time I decided to really go all out when I made this beauty."

"Functions?"

"Onboard computer and, cross-dimensional communication device if you ended up on another dimension again. Also, a few minor weapons thrown in just in case of emergency. Honestly, this just might be the greatest thing I have ever made." As Bonnie spoke Minerva coughed loudly to get her attention. "Your mom helped to, I guess?"

"As you should know Finn, most of the technology Founder's Island is focused on is body modification for humanity to better survive this chaotic world." Minerva had a gentle smile as she stepped in close to Finn's side her hand dancing down his arm giving of a slight static charge as she did. "I built a design for your arm the same as the Princess but of one or the other we combined our designs. In a way your arm could be considered the first joint technological project between the humans and the land of Ooo. Fitting for you is isn't Finn"

Movement to the side of him caught Finn's attention.

"Is that supposed to be glowing?" Finn asked confused as lights appeared and began to dance around him.

"What!" His mom and Bubblegum shouted as the motes of light slowly started to swirl around him. His mom was at his side in an instant reaching from him. As she tried to reach Finn though the light as it became a cocoon around Finn. There was a loud tearing sound as Minerva's arm was torn off at the elbow.

This last thing Finn heard before the light completely consumed him was Princess Bubblegum shouting something about activation?

**XxX**

"Heroes, please save our world!"

It was that shout that woke Finn Mertens from his slumber. Pushing himself up, Finn found himself not in the lab. Instead he was in a low-lit chamber with pillars surrounding him, standing atop an altar. The only light source were a few simple candles and magic circle he was in. He looked down at the people that spoke. They looked like wizards with their purple robes and hood that covered their faces.

Taking another look around Finn then realized he was in ritual room middle of a spell! In one single movement Finn was out of the circle and rushing towards the wizards. At his approach they backed away hands raised pleading for him to wait. It was only after realizing what the first words that they said that made Finn stop.

They wanted heroes to save them, even so. "You know it rude to just grab a guy all willy nilly. Give a guy some warning okay."

He waved his sword at them as he talked. Which was weird because it wasn't even the one, he usually slept with. With its white blade and hilt with a blue gem in the hilt, it reminded him of the Finn Sword.

The seemingly leader of the Wizards took a step forward and spoke. "We are sorry for the inconvenience we have caused you, Hero of the Sword. But our world stands on the brink of Destruction. To save it we need the help of the heroes you and your comrades fight back against the Waves of Calamity."

"Waves of Calamity? Sounds..." as Finn began talking voices from behind cut him off.

"Sounds dangerous think I'll pass." Said the man with a spear. He was dressed in a white shirt with a red striped jacket covering it and white jeans. He had blonde hair that fell to his waist and blue eyes like Finn but seemed a little bit older and a lot prettier.

"Bringing us here to fight your war for you? You must be insane!" The one that spoke this time held a bow. With wavy light brown hair and gold eyes he was dressed in what looked like a uniform like what the Princess would have him wear to special events.

"What the hell is going on!" the last one standing there had a shield on his arm. Black hair and blue eyes with a zipped up white and green hoodie with blue jeans.

"Great heroes, please I know you have questions but let us bring you to our king and he can answer all your questions!" The leader of the wizards yelled out gesturing towards the only exit.

"Fine, but any funny businesses and you'll have us as your enemy." The one with the spear said as he marched through the wizards. They all stepped away and cleared his way. As he passed by Finn could see that the man was smiling as he left.

"This king of yours better have answers, or a way home. I'm not risking my life for a bunch of kidnappers." The bowman said as he followed the spearman a smile on his face too.

As they left that just left Finn and the shield guy alone with the wizards.

"So that just happened, huh." Finn chuckled at the shield guy.

"What's going on? This is almost like a novel, but this is real right?" Shield guy asked nervously.

"Think were going have to ask the king about it, shield guy." Finn said.

"Shield guy, not my name is Naofumi Iwatani. What's your name?" Naofumi asked again his worry disappearing as he talked to Finn.

"Nao... Naofumi." Finn spoke the name aloud committing it to memory. "Names, Finn Mertens." He held his out his arm for Naofumi to shake.

"Finn, you from America?" Naofumi asked as they shook hands.

"No, Ooo. What's America?" Finn asked.

"Are you joking? Wait? Your hand!" Naofumi shouted as he stepped away from Finn looking at Finn's right arm. "You have a metal hand! That's so cool!"

"Right!" Finn laughed.

Any other was cut off as the wizards called to them. "Please heroes, the others have already left. We must hurry not to be left behind."

"Right, coming." Finn said to the wizards, then turned to Naofumi. "Talk more later." As he walked through the tunnel.

As Finn made his way through the tunnel towards the throne room, he took a glance out of the many windows. It was a nice day out, sun was shinning brought giving Finn a good look at the human kingdom he found himself end. It looked similar enough to the Candy Kingdom. Except instead of being made of candy and smelling like sugar, it was made of stone and smelled like nothing at all.

"Wow." Naofumi said as he leaned out the window quickly before heading further down the tunnel.

They quickly made their way to the throne room. It was ornate with balconies built inside the walls that had several people looking down at them. A red and gold carpet led to a golden throne were a grey hair old man in royal looking robes and a heavily jeweled crown sat staring down at them.

"Finally, the other two have arrived." The old man said annoyed leaning on the armrest of his throne.

All his life Finn had met and dealt with the many Kings, and Queens of Ooo. So, he knew immediately without a doubt that this one was the type of king that was worst kind to deal with.

"Sorry, got distracted." Finn apologized as he and Naofumi got in line with the other two.

"Hmm. "My name is Aultcray the 32nd. This is the land Melromarc of which I rule. You four Cardinal Heroes have been summoned to save not it but this world. Now heroes introduce yourselves!"

"Me first. My name is Motoyasu Kitamura. I'm 21 and a college student." The spearman introduced himself.

_College, what's that. _Finn wondered to himself.

"Well then. I'm Itsuki Kawasumi. I'm 17 and still in high school." Followed by the bowman.

_High school? I wonder if you learn to fly there. _Finn's mind wondered at the thought of flying through the sky on his own power that I took him a moment to notice the looks aimed at him.

"My turn, then. Finn Mertens, I'm 19 and I'm not in any kind of school." Finn introduced himself.

"American?" Motoyasu and Itsuki asked at the same time.

"Ooo." Finn replied, he turned to Naofumi. "Seriously, what's America?"

"Are you still joking?" Naofumi asked Finn. Turning to Aultcray. "Best for last, I guess. Naofumi Iwatani, age 20 college students."

As Naofumi spoke, King Aultcray glared at him with such hatred that Finn grabbed him by the shoulder. Pulling him a step away from the King, Finn stepped forward his gaze locked on the King.

Tension in the room rose noticeably as the King's glare transferred from Naofumi to Finn. As both stared at each other the room fell silent. The guards on the far wall reached for their weapons. As violence threatened to spill over, Aultcray sighed and lean further into his throne breaking eye contact with Finn. Everyone in the room let out a breath as Finn stepped back in line.

"Apologizes, I did not mean to offend." Aultcray said as he passed a considering look at Finn. "But it is commendable that you would rush to each other's aid after only just meeting each other."

"You said that you needed us right. But what exactly is in it for us?" Motoyasu asked, uncaring about what just happened.

"Exactly, you bring us here then force us to fight for you. Sounds like you intend to enslave us. If that is what you're after, then you will find us as your enemy!" Itsuki shouted at Aultcray.

"Let's just calm down a moment here." Naofumi said nervously, he glances at Finn who was saying nothing, but still razor focused on the King.

"Yes, calm yourselves heroes. You all will be rewarded richly for your efforts. But first let me tell you of the trial that awaits you." Aultcray said gently as he stood from his throne his staff slammed on the floor with a resounding bang.

**XxX**

The king explained the coming crisis.

There was a prophecy about the end of the world. Waves of Calamity would appear, each on bring entire armies of monsters with the only goal of killing every living thing they could get their hands on. Unless the waves were stopped and the monsters that have been brought forth killed, the world was doomed. The prophecy was from so long ago that the people of this world thought of it as a myth. That was until the large and ancient hourglass called a dragon hourglass that would signal the times, sand began to fall. The dragon hourglass predicted the arrival of the waves, and its sands began to fall one month ago. At first, they had thought it was a trick, or mistakes until the final gain of sand fell. The moment the sky around one of the many villages of the kingdom turned red as reality shattered revealing a hole to another dimension. Terrifying and horrible creatures crawled out from it in great numbers. At the time the country was barely able to contain the onslaught, but at the cost of the many lives of the country knights and civilians. But, at the end of the wave the Dragon's Hourglass refilled itself as the countdown to the next wave began. It was prophesied that each wave would be even more terrible than the last. They stood no chance of stopping the next wave. So, at this rate, the country then the rest of the world was doomed. Considering the situation nearly hopeless, the king decided to summon heroes from another world to save their world.

**XxX**

"So, what say you heroes? Now that you know the fate that awaits us all! What will you do?" Aultcray thundered at them. Less asking for help but daring them to try.

"Okay, count me in." Finn said simply resting his sword on his shoulder.

"Truly?" Aultcray asked a grin on his face.

"Helping people, and killing monsters are what I do best." Finn said with a smile on his face to match the king.

"Hey, even if the American is fine with helping! Don't expect me to fall in line so easily!" Motoyasu said cutting in throwing a glare at Finn.

"Hmph. Don't expect us to throw our lives away for nothing like him." Itsuki added also glaring at Finn.

_What did I do? _Finn thought to himself at the looks he was getting from the other two heroes.

"As I said before. All of you will be rewarded for your efforts to save our world." Aultcray looked to be getting annoyed at all the back talk.

"Well, as long as that is settled then we got nothing to worry about." Motoyasu said pride in his voice.

"Now, Heroes, check your status and give me an honest assessment of yourselves." Aultcray asked as he sat back down.

"How do we do that?" Itsuki asked embarrassed.

Aultcray said nothing merely wave the person standing at his side forward. The man was dressed in purple robes and was completely bald.

"One of the most basic magic that any person can learn is Status Magic. With it you can see the basic power, or level of yourself. Once learned it can be used to observe the level of all living beings of the world. The Legendary Weapons that you carry already hold this magic. For each person it is different visual experience, but if you focus inward you should be able to see your level at least." The bald man said.

Finn tried to follow the man's advice as his focus channeled inward after a few moments' words began to appear in front of him.

**Finn Mertens**

**Class: Sword Hero Lv 1**

**Equipment: Small Sword (Legendary Weapon)**

**Otherworld Arm**

**Otherworld Clothes**

**Skills: None**

**Magic: None**

"Level 1?" Finn said aloud, nudging Naofumi he asked. "Is that good or bad?"

Naofumi quietly reading under his breath stopped and looked at Finn in complete disbelief. "Yes! Haven't you ever played any kind of game. Level 1 is where you start at."

"I've played games before." Finn said offended. "Just not anything that had this kind of thing."

"You never played like an RPG, or a MMORPG, things like that?" Naofumi asked.

"What do those letters mean? Why are you speaking gibberish?" Finn stammered confused.

"Any experience with RTS or FPS games?" Itsuki asked amazed.

"What!" Finn was beginning to panic at all the letters thrown around.

"So, you're just a Newb. Don't worry then, just stick with me and I'll show you the ropes. I'm a pro at this game.

_Newb? Pro? What game is he talking about? _All theses letters and words being thrown around was giving Finn a headache.

"Heroes, I must cation against that." The bald man spoke up again. "Legends state that the four Heroes can not travel together, or they would suffer terrible consequences."

"Really, are you sure?" Finn asked.

"Looks like it." Naofumi said. "Check with your menu, it should tell you the same thing."

"Menu?" at Finn's word a list appeared before him. Scrolling through it he quickly clicked on the bar that said, help. When he did more words appeared in front of him. Warning him that traveling and fighting with the other heroes would cause to many problems.

"So, we have to go it alone then." Motoyasu asked.

"Not at all." King Aultcray declared. "Give us the rest of the day and we will procure for you all companions to help you on your journey. Until then we have rooms prepared for you to rest for the night."

A second door to the side opened as a servant stood there waiting for us to follow them. The four Heroes thanked the king as they followed the servant to their rooms for the night.

**XxX**

As the four Heroes settled in the room they were provided. Each on began looking through the menus provided to them by their weapons. Well most of them were anyway.

Finn reached over to the table that was placed in between the four of them and helped himself to the meat and cheese they were given.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do anyway?" Finn asked through a mouth full if food. "The King wasn't clear on what he needed us to do."

"It's simple, level up, kill the monsters, save the world. Standard story in a game." Motoyasu explained leaning back into his couch a glass of wine in his hand.

"Okay see, I got the last two. I'm not clear, what dose level up mean?" As Finn asked, he could see the annoyed expression cross the Spear and Bow heroes.

"It's when you get enough EXP to reach the next level. From 1 to 2 then 3 and on and on." Naofumi explained.

Finn opened his mouth to ask another question.

"EXP is what you get for killing monsters and clearing quest?" Itsuki snapped angrily.

"So, all we have to do is kill monsters? That great, I'm a great at killing monsters." Finn cheered.

"No way, that is just the start. If you really what to get anywhere your going to have to upgrade, you weapon properly. Just like in Emerald Online."

"Emerald Online, what's that?" Instead of Finn asking the question this time it was Naofumi.

"You don't know? I mean I expected from this guy." Motoyasu pointed at Finn. "But from you that's just disappointing, Naofumi. It's only the greatest online game ever."

"You wrong about that, Motoyasu." Itsuki cut in. "This game is more like the console game, Brave Star Online."

"Never heard of it. Most have been some minor title or something" Motoyasu said as he took a sip from his glass.

"Minor!" Itsuki shouted as he stood up.

Before an argument could progress, Naofumi spoke up. "How about Odin Online, or Fantasy Moon Online. You guys heard of that?"

"No."

"No."

"I have no idea what's going on anymore."

"This doesn't make any sense. I mean are we really in a game, and if so, how did we even get here?" Naofumi asked burying his hands in his hair.

"Maybe none of us are from the same world." Finn suggested.

"So, we weren't just summoned to this world, but from four different worlds as well. How would we even know, Wait!" Motoyasu snapped his fingers as he jumped up as well. "Who's the Prime Minister?"

The three heroes answered each with a different name, as Finn just wondered what a Prime Minister was. From there each one would ask a question only for the other two to answer in a different way.

"So, we really are from different worlds." Naofumi said shocked.

"Expect you didn't answer any questions, Finn." Motoyasu said.

"I have no idea what any of you were talking about but did any of you have a Mushroom War." Finn asked.

"Mushroom War, what's is that?"

"Well it was a long time ago, but it was like everyone was mad at each other, so they fought. They kept fighting and fighting, until they dropped these bombs on each other. See, when these bombs fell, they exploded into theses mushroom clouds. So, after that the war ended because there was nobody left to fight. So, you guys got anything like that?" As Finn talked, he could see that the faces of the other heroes begin to pale.

"How..." Naofumi started then stopped for a moment to swallow nervously. "How long ago was that?"

"About a thousand years." Finn answered. "You guys okay? You look a little pale."

"Fine! Fine, I think that is enough talking for today." Motoyasu headed for the door not taking his eyes of Finn. "I'm uh going to bed. Need to be ready for tomorrow."

"Me too." Itsuki said following Motoyasu out the door.

Wordlessly Naofumi stood up. He looked at Finn as if wanting to say something but decided against it and left after the other two.

"Was it something I said?" Finn asked out load.


	2. Chapter 2

As the other three left, Finn leaned back in the couch and tried to sort through his feelings. On one hand he should be as mad as the other three for being taken from his home, but honestly this was the most interesting thing that has happened to him in the last year. Ooo was the most stable than Finn could ever remember. So Everyday for the past year had been peacefully, happy, and completely boring. It was why he was considering leaving it all behind to explore the rest of the world beyond Ooo.

_Guess that choice had been made for me._ Finn held up his new hand and slowly examine it. Five fingers, right number of joints, it was also smooth to the touch, it could almost pass for a human hand except for it being completely gray. PB mentioned that it could do a whole lot of things, but Finn was warped here before he could be told how to use it.

_Wait, what did PB say before I got taken. Something about… _"Activate." At Finn's word a light appeared on his forearm, pushing back his sleeve light shot up and formed a screen in front of him.

_Hello Finn. Designation: Owl online._ The words appeared on the screen, accompanied by a voice that sounded like PB, but monotone and robotic.

"Owl?" Finn asked.

_The name was chosen based off old-world mythology. _

"Mythology? Whatever, can you do anything besides talk, Bubblegum mentioned a few things."

_Activating primary functions._

Finn's arm began to light up shortly and he could hear a faint humming sound. Then it cut of as his arm let out a few sparks and twitched uncontrollably. It took a few minutes for the fit to die down.

_Error, some primary functions are inoperable. Multiple software and hardware damage detected. Self diagnostics initiated… results determine. Prosthetic has been damage by recent planar shift. Activating self-repair functions. Time until full operation restored undetermined. Apologies for the inconvenience._

"I just got you and your broken already." Finn groaned and leaned back into the couch. "PB is going to be so mad when she hears about this."

_I was not expecting you to be teleported across space and time the moment I was attached to you._

"You said 'I' that means you're alive?"

_The correct term for it would be an A.I. artificial intelligence. Princess Bubblegum as always looked out for what she believes are the best interest of the people she cared for. It was in that belief that I was created through a combined brain scan of her and Minerva._

Finn shot forward and clutched his arm. "PB made you out of her and mom! Why do something like that?"

_According to the information given to me. For the past few months, it's been noted that you have been slowly distancing yourself from the people of Ooo and the humans from Founders Island. It was determined then and I was to be created as a means of keeping you company._

"I wasn't that obvious, was I?" Finn muttered under his breath. "So, you basically PB's kid, then."

_That's is one way to look at it I suppose. Is that a problem?_

"PB's kids have a habit of going bonkers." PB wasn't the greatest person Finn could admit, but she was still a good person. It was just whenever she tried to create a person, they always took on her worst qualities and never her good ones.

_Then is a good thing for you that's part of my cognitive function is based on your other mother._

"Ha, so can you do anything right now, or is it nothing but bad jokes."

In lieu of saying anything the fingers in Finn's arm split open. From the gaps tiny tendrils poured out. They spread out and connected along several points on the legendary sword.

"What are you doing?"

_Examining the unknown piece of tech that has as attached itself to you._

"Whoa stop! Messing with the magic sword might not be the best idea."

_There is no such thing as magic. Only what current science has not yet been able to understand._

"Yeah, you were definitely made by Princess Bubblegum." Finn watched as sparks flew from his sword, worried he said. "Maybe you should stop before…"

The blue gem within the sword started to glow. Before Finn could move his hand away, a wave of force emanated from the sword, throwing Finn backwards upturning the sofa and knocking over the chairs, tables, and everything else in the room that wasn't nailed down. Finn groaned in pain as steam rose from his body.

_I seemed to have activated its countermeasures. Studying the sword will take longer then I thought. Apologies._

**Warning further attempts to temper with the legendary sword we met with increasing punishment.**

Finn looked from his new arm to his new sword and sighed. "Can't we all just get along."

**XxX**

When morning came the four Heroes found themselves back in the throne room. This time they stood with the king behind them as they waited for the people that would help them in their journey.

Finn was barely able to stop himself from yawning, he was up so late. He apologized to the staff that showed up after he wrecked the room and then spent the night helping them clean it. Stifling another yawn Finn looked at the others out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but notice out of the three, Naofumi looked to be the only one truly nervous.

"Something wrong?" Finn asked the Shield Hero.

Naofumi looked up at Finn's question, he worked his mouth for a moment before speaking. "It's just you heard them right, at breakfast. That out of all of us, I'm the only one with a useless shield." He smiled as if that fact didn't bother him.

Right at breakfast the three of them were talking about games again. Finn tried to listen, but after a while he just gave up and tuned them out.

"What, no shields are great." Finn argued.

"Really, you can't even attack with one."

"Shields are like hammers." Finn explained. "Real blunt force instrument. You hit a guy just right and you'll break limbs just as easily as you would with a hammer. Even better, sharpened the edges so when you hit a person in their neck just right and their heads will fly off. Always fun when that happens."

"That's… something to remember." Naofumi said looking a little green as the doors were thrown opened and people entered. "Oh, thank God."

There was 12 in total lead on both sides by guards. They stood before the Heroes, each one with a bright smile on their face.

"I thank you all for answering our call! Now, gathered adventurers, choose the Heroes that you will follow!" King Aultcray declared slamming his cane on the ground.

"Wait, they get to choose?" Naofumi asked.

The adventurers without any discussion moved forward. Which was weird, but he figured that they must have discussed it among themselves before they got here. As they stood behind them, it ended with three behind him, five behind Itsuki, four behind Motoyasu, and none behind Naofumi.

"Wait, why am I the one that's by myself?" Naofumi shouted to everyone.

A tired part of Finn was getting annoyed at Naofumi's constant complaining. So, Finn turned to look at the ones behind him. Before he can even ask the question the three of them shook their heads no and seemed almost terrified that Finn was going to suggest in the first place. So instead he looked around the room. Something about the atmosphere was giving Finn a weird feeling in his gut like he was being tricked somehow.

"Well, you can hardly blame them. The shield is the most useless class. They probably want a hero that can actually fight against the waves." Motoyasu stated simply as his team gathered close to him. They were all women by the way.

"I'm afraid it is as Lord Motoyasu says, Shield Hero you will have to find your own traveling companions." The King spoke kindly, but to Finn it looked like he was fighting back a smile.

It was faint but Finn could hear it. The faint laughter of the people around them. They were smiling at the scene being played out. The sight of Naofumi asking each of them and the king for help was amusing to them. Finn doubted that the other three Heroes even noticed.

"Excuse me, I will travel with the Shield Hero." A voice cut through the building argument.

The one who had spoken was one of the adventurers behind Motoyasu. She was a beauty, and Finn knew a lot of beautiful women. Bright crimson hair that reached her back and emerald green eyes. Finn never met her before even still something about her was familiar to him.

"Really?" Naofumi asked, a large smile on his face as he looked her up and down.

"Of course." The red-haired woman reached out and took Naofumi's hand. "You are one of the heroes that will save this world. The least I could do is help you."

"Is there anyone else that wants to travel with the Shield Hero, anyone at all!" The King shouted to the rest of them, but no one move. If Finn wasn't wrong the king seemed almost nervous to let the woman to travel alone with Naofumi.

"Very well, Heroes each month I have sat aside a stipend for your travels. But, because of the Shield Hero's circumstance he will be given a larger amount. Shield hero use your increased funds to recruit others to your side" The King commanded.

Naofumi nodded his head resolute as the red-haired woman gently squeezed his shoulder.

After a moment four servants appeared each with a bag of coins for the heroes.

"Now Heroes! Begin your journey and save this world!" King Aultcray slammed his cane into the ground dismissing the court.

**XxX**

"So, what am I supposed to do now." Finn muttered to himself as he stood at the bridge connecting the castle to the rest of the town.

He took a moment to observe the town. The cobblestone road snaked through the town. With multiple stone buildings doting through the town. Besides the buildings were wooden stalls that had fresh produce for sell. People walked the streets smiles in their faces and without a care in the world. All around quite a bustling city.

"Lord Finn, if I may offer a suggestion? It would be best if we head to a local blacksmith and procure you a set of armor." One of the adventurers accompanying Finn spoke up.

The adventurer was a man with brown hair and eyes. He was kind of plain looking and was dressed in a green cloak over brown and black armor. A sad part of Finn noticed that the man's choice in armor was like a certain huntress wizard he was starting to miss. Also, if the man had given his name Finn didn't hear it so for now the man would be referred to Hunter in Finn's head.

"Don't do that." Finn said without looking at Hunter.

"Don't what, my Lord." Hunter asked distress evident.

"Don't call me Lord, if we gonna be traveling together, you just call me Finn." He explained.

"Perhaps what Finn should do is head to the Magic Shop. There we have been told are crystals balls that have already been bought for him and the other heroes by the crown." The second adventurer said.

This one to was a man. He had light blue hair and grey eyes. With his sharp facial structure and fine black robes, he looked like a noble. Finn also guest with the book holstered at his side the guy had to be a wizard of some kind. So, for now Finn would call him, Fancy Wizard.

"What are crystals balls?" Finn asked.

"Well normally, for one to learn even the simplest of spells you'd have to meticulously study a spell tome. But with a crystal ball the knowledge of the spell is infused directly into your mind in a way that you would never be able to forget it and be able to use it instantly. They are dreadfully expensive though." Fancy said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"No, what we should do is pick up some supplies for the road ahead." The third adventurer spoke up.

Unlike the other two this one was a girl. She had green hair and eyes. She was someone Finn could call cute. She had on this weird red skintight sleeveless shirt, where the sides end at her waist but the front and back part of it stretched down to her knees. She also had on white baggy pants with black slippers. She looked like a monk to Finn.

Three places to go today and only so many more hours left till night.

"Supplies first, then armor." Finn decided.

"Okay! I know a good general store." Monk shouted as she almost ran down the road. "This way."

"We should hurry before she leaves us behind." Fancy did as he said following behind Monk.

Hunter nodded in apology as he followed his two friends, Finn close behind him.

As Finn moved through the streets, he noticed that the signs themselves are written in a language he didn't understand. As he passed by several more, he could feel his right arm twitching. As the group stopped in front of a building Finn's right arm rose towards the sign. A light emitted from his palm scanning the sign and every strange letter engraved on it.

_Running translating software. Comparing unknown script to all known language databases for matches. Will need a larger sample size to adequately translate unknown language. _Owl spoke up suddenly.

"Do you want me to find you a book, or something?" Finn asked Owl uncaring of the looks he was getting.

_That would be appreciated._

"What?" Finn asked his companions. "Never see a man talk to his arm before."

Walking past them Finn entered the building. The first thing that's Finn noticed was the smell, a rich combination of herbs, oils, and spices. The room was dominated by a large table set directly in the middle of it with several various things placed atop it. Besides that, there was a single counter stretching from one wall up to the other behind it was door leading into what was probably a back road. Standing at the counter was an old woman. Ashen gray hair with a tiny pair of glasses rested on top of her nose her face had several wrinkles, but she was smiling as she looked at Finn.

"How can I help you, dreary." The shop owner's voice was soft and barely audible.

"I would like to buy some camping supplies, a bag to carry them in, and some provisions for the road."

"Well I'll be, I think I have just what you need in the back, won't take me but a few minutes to get them." She smiled as she headed into the back.

As she left, Finn found his eyes wondering through the store as his companions filed in. He should probably find out their names sooner rather than later. Slowly his eyes found themselves on a mason jar on the counter, filled with gumballs. They were entirely pink with three white spots around them. They remind him of the Candy Kingdom. Only been two days and already homesick. He really should have asked how long the waves would last.

"You can have some if you like, free of charge." The shopkeeper's voice spoke up behind him.

"Really?"

"Yes, there an import from Faubley apparently all the rage over there." The Shopkeeper dropped the bag she was carrying and opened the jar for Finn.

Finn took one of the offered gumballs, but as he raised it to his mouth the gem in his sword began to pulse. Feeling curious Finn brought the gumball to the gem. When he did the piece of candy was absorb and the sword begin to glow.

**Catalyst accepted Candy Sword unlocked.**

**Candy Sword **

The first thing about the new sword in Finn's hand that he noticed was the pink blade, the color the same as PB's hair. It was doubled edged and about the length and width of a longsword. The guard was red crystal hard candy, the hilt had a peppermint swirl like pattern. It smelled of sugar, licking the blade it tasted sweet. So, Finn took a bite of it.

"Cool." Finn swallowed as he held the sword up high with stars in his eyes.

"Stories state that the four Cardinals weapons can change shape, but I doubt how a sword made of candy can be of any use." Fancy spoke up as the three of them gathered around Finn's new Candy blade.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at what candy can do to you." Finn laughed.

"Can I have a bite?" Hunter asked.

"Oh, me too?" Monk chimed in.

"Sure!" Finn pointed the blade at them as they both took a bite out of the sword. Just as quickly as the pieces was taken out, they just as fast grew back.

Fancy covered his mouth in horror as he and Finn watched them chew.

"Oh, my gods, this is so good!" Monk cheered.

"It's like there is a party in my mouth right now!" Hunter said in awe.

Anymore conversation was cut as the Shopkeeper let out a gasp. "Oh, my stars, it you aren't it. The Sword Hero."

"You got me, so how much do I owe you for the supplies?" Finn asked.

Finn watched as the shopkeeper's eyes went from Him, to the bag, and then back to the sword in his hand. "Give me a few pieces of your sword and you can have it for 63 silver."

"Throw in any kind of book you have around, and you got yourselves a deal." Finn gave his counteroffer.

"I have a book of Fairytales and folk stories, is that okay?" the Shopkeeper said as she grabbed a book from the shelf next to her.

"That's fine." Finn took the book. He then gave her 30 pieces of candies each the size of his thumb and placed them in a jar offered to him. He then left with his camping supplies and book. When they left the building, Finn turned to Hunter. "So, where's the blacksmith?"

Hunter kept chewing as he walked, with everyone else behind him. It took them some time but while they were walking Owl periodically scanned through the pages of the book. Soon they found themselves in front of another building with a hammer and anvilon the sign outside. As Finn pushed open the door, the room was filled with the ringing of a bell.

Finn whistled to himself at the room filled with all kinds of weapons and armors. Just racks, barrels, and shelves filled with every type of weapon Finn knew. Without thinking Finn placed the legendary sword on his back and started to examine the various blades in front of him.

"Well looks like someone knows their stuff."

Embarrassed Finn place the greatsword he was playing with back in its barrel. Finn turned to the man that spoke. He was taller than Finn, more muscled as well. He was wearing beige overalls and a white shirt underneath. He was smiling at Finn with his arms cross, displaying a variety of scars on them.

"So, if your done playing with my stock how can I… wait." The man leaned forward looking intently at Finn. "Your one of them aren't you, one of them summon heroes?"

"Yeah, Finn Mertens nice to meet you." Finn held out his right hand to shake.

"Hot dam, to think I get to meet two of the Heroes in a single…" As the man took Finn's hand his expression changed and without warning lifted Finn up and pulled down the sleeve of his arm revealing his prosthetic arm. "What is this?"

"It's my arm!" Finn shuddered as the man ran his fingers intimately down is on his arm. "Stop that!"

"Ah, sorry." The man chuckled nervously as he dropped Finn. "I've seen many fake limbs, even made a couple for a few unlucky adventurers. But never in my life have I seen one so perfectly crafted. Mind if I examined it for a bit."

"Sure, just don't pick me up again." The man was so tall that when he did Finn's feet dangled of the ground. "You know you never introduced yourself."

"Erhard." He answered absentmindedly, Erhard took Finn's hand in his as he muttered under his breath and a light covered them. "Now isn't this interesting. I can't tell what kind of material the arm is made of, but it seems like a lot of energy is coursing through it. There is a lot of information that I can't make heads or tells of either."

"What are you made out of anyway?" Finn asked Owl as Erhard released his hand.

_My metal casing was made from ore harvested from the Flame Kingdom._

"You say something?" Erhard asked.

"Just talking to my arm." Finn answered.

"Hm? Whoever made that arm for you must care a great deal for you. I could feel the amount of love poured into that work of art." Erhard blushed a bit as he clapped his hands. "But you must be here to purchase some armor. Sorry about that I got carried away."

"No problem." Finn walked through the store examining the various pieces of armor on display. He had worn armor before, but generally he didn't like wearing it as much as he use to anymore. Better to avoid getting hit if you could anyway. Eventually he settled on a blue gambeson, basically a padded jacket. Some trousers a lighter shade of blue and black boots. Also, he grabbed a sheath for his sword.

"You sure? That isn't going to provide much protection." Erhard explained as he took in what Finn brought him.

"I know, it's fine I've fought in less. How much?" Finn asked.

"For this?" Erhard did some calculations in his head. "50 silver."

Finn gave him the money. "You have a dressing room?"

Erhard led him to a dressing room and soon Finn was out of his old clothes in into his new armor. Finn attached the sheath to his back and placed the sword in it. After taking a moment to make sure everything was on right. Finn came back to the front of the building thanked Erhard again and left.

"Great, your all set up. So, let's go hit the magic shop then we can go hunting." Fancy was nearly jumping in place.

"Eh, about that were not going. Let's just head out now." Finn cut him off.

"What! Why?" Fancy whine sounded almost like a child.

"Magic is fun and all, but I'm the more physical kind of guy. No good at magic, anyway, always forget the words to a spell after a few days." Finn explained to them.

"But that's the best part about crystal balls, the knowledge is directly stored in your head so you can't forget." Fancy shot back.

"Ewe don't like the sound of that either. Let's just go we can get you some balls to play with later." Finn turned and walked towards the town gates without another word.

"Well can you at least add us to your party before we leave?" Hunter cut in.

Finn almost stopped at the word party but kept walking. "I don't know about the others, but I'm not the kind of guy who can just party with people I've only known for a few hours. Maybe after I get to know you, we can have one, but until then why don't we just keep this professional."

Honestly Finn was brought here to save the world not to have fun. Besides, if he was going to through a party, he would need a lot more time to plan one!

"Oh, okay." Hunter was probably disappointed that there wasn't going to be a party waiting for them when they get back.

"Just give me a few days and I can probably set something up." Finn promised.

"What?" Hunter asked.

Any further talk end as they passed the main gate and left the town behind them. Finn stared at the long grassy plain in front of him and smiled. _This is going to be so much fun!_


	3. Chapter 3

Finn took a moment to breathe as he observed the large grassy plain just outside of the town. The plains extended as far as the eyes could see with a forest as the backdrop. A large cobblestone street stretched from the front gate to the horizon.

"So, what do we do now?" Finn asked Hunter, his rapidly growing go to guy for information.

"We should work on getting you up a few levels before the day is over." Hunter suggested.

"How do I do that?" Finn walked towards the grass fields, the grass itself so high that it reached his knees.

"By killing monsters." Hunter's gave snapped to the grass as it rustled independently of the wind and Finn's movement. "Finn look out!"

"Really? That's it?" Finn called back to Hunter as he walked through the grass heading into the forest. The grass rustled around him the only warning he was given as several objects flew towards him. They were simple ball shape monsters with their face taking up the entirety of their bodies. Without looking at them or even slowly down, in a single fluid motion Finn drew his blade and cut down the creatures, and kept walking to the forest. "Easy enough."

Quickly the rest of his companions caught up with him as he entered the forest along the way killing more of the balloon monsters that tried to attack them as they caught up. Though Finn had to wait a bit for Hunter to catch up as he had stop to collect the remains of the balloon monsters that Finn killed.

Finn watched him as he joined up with the rest of them, the silent question in his eyes.

"There are a couple of merchants all over the world who'd pay good money for monsters' parts. The more powerful the monster, the more powerful the profit."

"How much are balloon monsters worth?" Finn asked curiously as they journeyed deeper into the forest. He was careful avoid stepping on any dry twigs or trip over tree roots.

"Their rubbery skin is usual as tarps and the inner lining of water skins, so it fetches around a copper piece." Hunter explained.

Finn thought back to the bag of silver he was given. "So how much copper is in a silver?"

"One hundred copper goes into one silver, and one hundred silver goes into a gold piece, Finn." Hunter explained.

As they dove deeper into the forest, Finn noticed that the three of them were moving in a formation, Hunter in front with Fancy behind him and Monk covering the rear. They moved into place with such ease that Finn wouldn't have been surprised that this wasn't the first time the three of them were in the same group before. As for Finn, he walked to the side of them with the ease as this forest was not so different than the ones Finn had grown up around.

"Been through these woods before, Hunter?" Finn asked.

"I go through here regularly. There is always some weak monster prowling around here good for some easy coin." Hunter admitted.

"Weak." Finn whined in disappointment momentarily before asking another question on his mind. "So how long have you three been working together?"

"A few months. I'm surprised you were able to tell." Hunter admitted.

"Just a vibe I was getting." Finn paused then trying to come up with the right way to ask his next question, but knew he needed to ask. "Why were you three so afraid to join Naofumi, the Shield Hero?"

The three of them stopped with a tension that had nothing to do with being in a forest filled with monsters. Hunter gave Finn a look of the same kind of fear he had in the King's chamber, he opened his mouth nervously, but no sound came out.

Finn gave him a hard look, sighed, and kept walking.

They continued their trek then in an awkward silence. Hunter pausing every now and with his head snapping towards every sound. Every time he stopped the other two would pay attention to him, just as tense as he was, they then relaxed as he did. He was even doing it now, Finn noticed. Expect this time didn't seemed to relax. Turning to look at what Hunter noticed, Finn could hear the quiet crunch of grass as it was stepped on all around them. Slowly Finn reached for his sword and dropped his bag, at the same time Hunter reached into his cloak and took out two daggers, Fancy pulled out his book, and Monk slipped into a fighter stance.

They were within a clearing in the forest. Trees high enough and spread far enough away that the canopy of their branches blocked most of the dying sunlight from reaching them. It was basically an arena of low patches of light and shadows. The four of them didn't have to wait long for their opponents. From between the trees they came.

They at first looked like grey and black furred wolves to Finn. Then he noticed that along their backs and shoulders they had these bone-like protrusions. Each one of them was also almost as tall as Finn at their shoulders.

There were ten of them as they slowly began to prowl around them. One last one came out of the bush. It was easily taller than all of the other wolves and them. It had snow white fur instead of the black and grey of the others. It also didn't prowl around instead it just stood there as it observed them.

"Shit." Hunter whispered under his breath as he moved around best, he could keep the pack of wolves in his line of sight.

"What are they? They look like wolves but different." Finn had already drawn his sword reverting it from it's candy like blade back into regular steel.

"A pack of Direwolves and their alpha pack leader." Hunter responded. "They shouldn't be this close to the capital."

"Maybe you should tell them that." Fancy snapped as he whispered magic words under his breath and balls of light began to float around them slightly lighting up the area around them.

"Something must have drove them from their normal hunting ground. There were no signed of them when I scouted out this place yesterday!" Hunter shouted.

"No time for that!" Monk screamed.

Without even the slightest warning the packed moved to attack them. One of the wolves dived at Finn, forcing him to jump forward and roll away from the others to avoid being brought to the ground.

They move as Finn did and he was quickly surrounded by three of the direwolves. As the first one pounced for his chest, Finn held out his right arm to ward it off. Without pause it bit down on Finn's arm, a hungry gleam in it eyes as it snarled. Instead of blood being spilled and filling its mouth like the direwolf excepted, its teeth clinked on the metal of Finn's prosthetic arm.

Finn stepped forward and plunged his blade through the direwolf's chest and into its heart. But even as the blade pierced it's fur it was only able to go so far before it was stopped. Finn had to put even more strength than he thought as the blade was finally forced through.

Deeming it dead, Finn yanked his blade from the direwolf and threw it towards the second one sending it to the ground with the corpse of its packmate on top of it. Turning to the third, its eyes widened in almost surprise that one of it own was so quickly killed, wasn't able to react in time as Finn brought down his sword with everything he had in a two-handed grip over the top of it's head in a swing that parted its perfectly down the middle. Finn panted as his swing buried the blade in the ground.

_This might be harder than I thought, _Finn wondered if he was just out of practice, or maybe this is what they meant about levels?

Growling from behind Finn drew his attention.

The second direwolf getting up from under the corpse of the first watched as another of its pack was killed. It snarled as it lunged forward at Finn confident it could kill Finn in the opening he made.

It was wrong, Finn not bothering with pulling his sword out of the ground instead he dragged his blade through the ground into an almost uppercut like fashion and cutting the direwolf from chest to shoulder as it harmlessly passed by him. Falling to the ground and quickly bleeding out.

The entire fight had only taken seconds.

Finn turned to the other three to assess their conditions. Hos eyes passed over Hunter who was on the ground struggling to keep a direwolf from tearing out his throat. Monk was punching and kicking at any direwolf that got close to her, but was unwilling to chase after them. Fancy on the other hand was making hand gestures in the air with his orbs following his movement. As the orbs touched the direwolves fur they left singe mark behind, but the direwolves themselves were quick enough to avoid any real damage.

_We're not going to last if this drags on to long!_

Making his decision Finn dashes by Hunter swinging his sword at the direwolf on top of him. The attack itself had no purpose but to distract the monster, and it did just that. As the wolf moved to dodge Finn's blade, Hunter buried his daggers into it's neck. Pushing the wolf of himself Hunter stood up.

"Help Monk! I got Fancy!" Finn barked out orders as he charged across the field, his shoulder slamming into a wolf that was seconds away from tearing into an unaware Fancy. The other two around Fancy stopped at Finn's sudden appearance. A mistake that they paid for as balls of fire slammed into them from all sides.

"My name is not Fancy, Finn. It is Tersia!" Tersia shouted as he conjured a ball of flame as big as him and threw it at the two already badly burned wolves. As it hit they were reduced to ash. Tersia turned to glare at Finn "Will you try and remember it!?"

"Sorry." Finn laughed nervously as he turned away from the impromptu bonfire. He cast a quick look to see how Hunter and Monk were doing.

The answer was, pretty well actually. Caught on two fronts between Hunter's knives and Monk's fist, the other direwolves were caught of guard and one was even killed. So that left four, five counting their leader. A howl cut through field as the Alpha called his surviving packmates back to him. As the remaining direwolves reached them, they underwent some kind of change. Their fur raised into points as their claws and fangs enlarged. Even their eyes started to glow red.

"A Skill?" Hunter shouted.

Finn wanted to ask what he was talking about but as soon as Hunter opened his mouth the direwolves moved. It was only Finn's instincts and reflexes that saved him as he placed his sword in the perfect way to defect the claws of a direwolf from tearing out his throat. From then it was a frantic dance as it took everything Finn had to avoid being wolf chow. Spark, fur, and blood flew all around him. Finn was almost thrown off his feet whenever one just so much as bushes past him. He didn't even have the luxury of checking on the others.

_This isn't going to work. _Finn desperately thought to himself, stepping out of the way of another killing lunge. _I'm being worn down and they are only speeding up! I need a way to stop their movements… That it!_

Almost like turning an imaginary dial in his head, Finn brought back his Gum Sword. This time instead of avoiding the direwolves, he purposely let them hit him. The attacks pushed him back his feet digging burrows into the ground as with each attack he took was another chunk out of him and his sword.

As they passed by him Finn did his best to strike out at them, but his blade scraped harmlessly along their fur. All he could do was endure the unrelenting barrage as it continued to slowly whittle him down until suddenly it stopped.

Lowering his sword Finn looked on at the remaining wolves surrounding him. They howled and bayed at him as they tried to move forward but found that they couldn't. Their fur tattered with the fragmented remains of his sword just like the ground around them. The pieces of his Gum Sword keeping them place like a fly trap.

Not taking any chances Finn switched his sword back and quickly killed the four of them before they could break free. Bound in place as they were, it was easy enough to dispatch them.

Not taking his eyes of the large white Finn called out to the others. "You guys alright?"

"We're all still alive." Finn peeked at Hunter from the corner of his eyes. The man had several cuts and tears along his form, even his green cloak was tattered. "And not much else."

"Running low on mana." Tersia panted, he was relatively untouched but dripping in sweat and was barely standing. "Got one more spell in my before I pass out."

Monk said nothing but held up one of her arms as the other dangled uselessly at her side, with a deep gash in her side leaking blood along the ground.

"Just one more left!" Finn shouted. "I'll keep it busy! You Terry, when you get the chance blast it with your strongest spell! Hunter, Monk, keep him safe!"

"I think I might prefer Fancy to that." Tersia muttered to himself. The other two just gave Finn a nod at his orders.

The Alpha Direwolf reeled backwards as the last of its pack was killed. It let out a mournful howl that quickly changed to one filled with rage. It launched itself at the one who had killed most of its people tonight, Finn.

Finn met the Alpha's charge with one of his own. Screaming his own war cry, Finn rushed the Alpha. As the closed the distance between them right before they crashed into each other Finn dropped to the ground and slid underneath the Alpha. As he did, he dragged the blade along the underside of the beast. Once again, his sword barely made a scratch. Finn had to spin along the ground to avoid being stepped on as he passed by the Alpha's back legs.

Finn kicked up to his feet, as his feet hit the ground Finn spun around to face the wolf.

At the same time the Alpha turned circling the field and ignoring the other three as it charged Finn again.

This time as they neared each other, Finn didn't move. Planting his feet, Finn prepared himself to receive the Alpha's attack. The Alpha seeing this picked up speed, the glee clear in its eyes.

Finn watched as its mouth open, a gaping maw big enough to swallow him whole. When it got close enough that Finn could count the amount of teeth in it mouth, he ducked underneath it's jaw. As Finn took the tackle on his shoulder, he thrust his blade through the chest of the Alpha, its charge helped to easily puncture through the Alpha's armor like fur.

With a shuddering breath Finn lifted the Alpha up. It's front paw dangle off the ground as it tried to reach towards Finn, as it back paws dug through the earth.

"Now!" Finn screamed out as he could feel the tip of its claws drag along his back. Blood dripping down his hair almost blinding his sight.

"Tzuvait Fireball!"

The darkness of the approaching dawn disappeared as a giant ball of fire appeared in the sky, before then crashing down on the back of the Alpha. It in turned let out a piercing cry as it was burned. It's screamed died down as the fires did, but it was still alive.

With a heave Finn tossed it on its side. It laid there then, to weak to pick it's self up again. He looked down at the thing quietly, then slowly he drew his sword and stab the Alpha through its heart. As the blade pierced it flesh the Alpha let out what almost sounded like a sigh.

As the sword rested there in the wolf, the jewel in the guard lit up again. The light completely covered the Alpha as more words appeared in front of Finn's eyes.

**Catalyst accepted, Wolf Fang Daggers unlocked.**

**Alert, you have leveled up!**

**You are now Level 3.**

**Alert, you have unused Stat Points!**

**Remaining points 10.**

_That is a lot of words, _Finn scratched his head as he tried to make sense of what it all means. Then an idea appeared in his head._ Wait, don't I have a help menu?_

Finn then took his time examining the new form his weapon had taken. This time there was two of them. They had a short hilt ending in sharpen points, the guards were a white fur same as the Alpha, the blades were singled edge, and white as teeth they were also long as his forearms. Giving them a quick spin in his palms, Finn marveled at their light weight.

Finn was used to using a variety of weapons growing up. But he had never had on that could change their shape so completely. This had some potential.

"Here." A vial was pushed against Finn shoulder interrupting his thoughts. Turning he held the two daggers with one hand and accepted the vial from Hunter.

"What's this?" Finn asked, turning completely around he watched as Monk was set down against the trunk of a tree as Terry bandaged her wounds. In Monk's still working hand she was drinking from the same kind of vial Finn had.

"Health potion, it'll take care of the worst of your wounds." Hunter clicked his teeth as he looked around. "It's getting kind of late, we should camp out here tonight, head back in the morning. If that's okay with you?"

"It fine." Finn popped the cork out of the vial and down the contents. "I'd actually prefer sleeping outside to sleeping in towns."

"Really?" Hunter began to skin the remaining Direwolves. Finn watched the man make quick work of the wolves. "Well you do look at home out here."

"I lived in a giant tree most of my life." Finn told Hunter as he took began to butcher the remaining wolves with Hunter.

It took some time, but together the two of them were able to remove the fur from the wolves. Afterward, Hunter produced some rope and hooks to hang the pelts up of the ground. As for the rest of the wolves, there guts were removed and with some work a fire was started, and they began to cook the wolves.

On a whim Finn took the wolves burned by Terry and the leftovers parts of the dismembered wolves to see if his swords could absorb them. It did, but no new words or weapon forms appeared to Finn.

By the time all was said and done night had fallen. The four of them sat done around the fire as the meat cooked. Feeling eyes on him, Finn turned to look at Hunter. The two of them sat in silence until Hunter began to talk.

"Look, it's not that we're afraid of the Shield Hero, but more like we're afraid of the Church." As he spoke Hunter looked around nervously.

"What dose a church have to do with anything?"

"How to explain this? Well I guess it all begins with the Church's idea that Heroes are the one closes to God."

"God, huh." Finn had met people who called themselves gods before, and he had to admit a few of them had the power to back up the claim.

"Right so because of that belief the Church of the Four Heroes was created, to worship the Four Cardinal Heroes."

"Worship!? Me? People are worshiping me!?" Finn chocked on air at the thought. "But what does that have to do with the Shield?"

"I'm getting to that. So basically, a real long time ago, there was a war between the Humans and the Demi-Humans."

"Demi-Humans?"

"Humans with animal features. Can I finish?"

"Right go ahead, sorry." The thought of humans with animal features brought to Finn's mind the tribe of mutants living under Ooo. They had looked mostly human, until you take off their hats to reveal the fish parts underneath.

"There was a war between the Humans and Demi-Humans, during the course of the war the Four Heroes were Summoned to help Humanity win. But when they appeared only the Sword, Spear, and Bow sided with humans. Only then that the Shield Hero decided to fight for the Demi-Humans. People don't really know how it ended, but it resulted in parts of the world with Humans in charge and parts of the world with Demi-Humans in charge. Even the people were split on the worship of the Heroes, with Humans keeping to the Faith of The Three Heroes, and Demi-Humans exalting as their Saint."

"So that's why the King doesn't like Naofumi, because of some war that happened a long time ago?"

"Not really, if all the stories about him are true then his reasons are far more personal." Hunter leaned forward a small grin on his face.

"This sounds like a story." Finn leaned forward too.

"There was another war or well a series of wars fought about 20 years ago between Melromarc and Siltvelt, a country ruled by Demi-Humans. Siltvelt was trying to take over the world and would have succeeded if not for the king, who was known back then as the Wise Hero Lüge. The wielder of the 7 Star Staff."

"What's a 7 Star Staff?"

"A super powerful weapon one of seven. Not as strong as the four Cardinal Weapons but still the closest thing to them." Hunter pulled out a waterskin and took a sip. "So, with the staff in hand Lüge tore through Siltvelt's armies. And just when victory against Siltvelt, tragedy struck against the hero. You see while Lüge was out on the frontlines Siltvelt assassins snuck into the country and killed his sister, Lucia. When Lüge found out, he rushed towards the Siltvelt capital and in single combat killed the leader of that nation and saved the world. In recognition or his great deeds, the hero married the queen and became the king of the country, changing his name to Aultcray."

"That sounds amazing, but what dose that have to do with Naofumi." Finn could understand Aultcray if anything ever happened to Jake, his brother, Finn didn't even want to entertain the thought.

"After the war hatred against Demi-Humans was at an all time high, and the Church that preached all Demi-Humans are evil got a lot more popular when the King himself became an avid believer."

"And the Shield Hero is the Demi-Humans Patron Saint." Finn continued as the pieces came together. "So, he is hated too."

"That's right." Hunter agreed as he reached over the fire and tore of a piece of wolf to eat.

Finn chewed on his wolf as he thought. "What about you three, do you hate the Shield Hero?"

"I'm not that religious of a person." Hunter answered. "But I'm not dumb enough to rock the boat."

"Naofumi seemed nice enough, but I wouldn't stick my neck out for someone I just met." Monk added her thoughts.

"I might be a powerful mage, but the king is on another level entirely. To side with the Shield is to stand against the Staff and only a fool with a death wish would do that." Terry said quietly.

The mood around the campfire turned awkward and strained again. Finn could tell what they were hinting at about Naofumi. But fir someone like Finn who lived in a world filled with all kinds of different people, it was hard wrapping his head around hating a person because of their species.

Finn stood up from the campfire after finishing the rest of his wolf. "I'm going to take a look around, make sure nothing else is around."

"Don't stray too far where we can't hear you scream." Hunter replied.

"Okay." Finn said as he made his way deeper into the woods. He wandered aimlessly, never going too far away from the others more in a circular path. He kept walking looking for nothing mostly trying to think about everything. Eventually Finn rested against a try as he brought up his menu again, searching through his **HELP** function until he found something about stat points...

**Stat point is what the Hero can use to strengthen themselves in their upcoming battles. Stats are the numerical value that represents an aspect of the Hero's capabilities. All Stats increase by one with each level and five additional points to be added to whatever the Hero chooses. To apply unused Stat Points, please access the Hero section.**

Finn flipped through his menu until he found the **Hero **section. Three options appeared before him.

**Passive**

**Stats**

Finn pressed the Stats button and…

**Strength: 18**

**Agility: 17**

**Constitution: 20**

**Perception: 10**

**Wisdom: 10**

**Unused points: 10**

"Let's see… easy enough to tell what each one dose. All I have to do is click on one to raise it. So, the question is what do I pick?"

After careful deliberation Finn decided that what he needed most was agility and strength. So, his stats ended up as…

**Strength: 25**

**Agility: 20**

**Constitution: 20**

**Perception: 10**

**Wisdom: 10**

With that done Finn flipped to the other things on the menu, **Passive**. Only one thing was listed there.

**Child of the Comet**

**Agent of Change**

**Effects:?**

_Comet, the Catalyst Comet? _It has been years since he last thought about that, about what it means for him. Just trying to wrap his head around it always gave him a headache. _I mean I used to be a butterfly! _

The Catalyst Comet comes once every thousand years and irrevocably changes the fate of the world it lands on, along with carrying an Agent of Change. Now change Finn knew could be both good and bad.

But it was getting late so instead on dwelling on his brewing existential crisis Finn went back to the campfire to sleep it off.

**XxX**

**For those who would wonder Finn's strengthening method is based on three factors, one is the video game Pirates of the Enchiridion, the second is Finn's belief that a Hero isn't a weapon but the person wielding it, and Finn's a simple guy so his method is simple too. Also, I'm not going to put much focus on stats because I never do when I play video games. So, if the numbers don't add up in the future it is because I forgot them.**


	4. Chapter 4

After waking up in the morning Finn and his team made their way back to Castle Town as dawn broke, with their spoils in tow. They walked through the town until they reached, what Finn believed to be the market place. People were all around them buying, and selling wares. From herds and spices, to jewelry, and even raw materials.

"I'm going to sell these pelts at the traders and meet you at the usual place." Hunter lifted the dried wolf pelts. "The rest of you?"

"I'm going to the public baths." Monk said. "I'm filthy and need to be clean."

"I'll shall go with Farrie." Terry said.

_Farrie?_

"You're not coming in with me, the Co-ed bath times are later." Monk, no her name was Farrie. _How did I miss that?_

"Of course not!" Terry spluttered. "I'll have you know I'm a complete gentleman."

"Well that's a shame." Farrie said a sly smile on her lips.

The two stared at each other for a moment, then broke down laughing.

"Finn?" Hunter, _wait what was his actual name_, asked me.

"I'll…" Finn stopped talking as he heard shouting. Turning he and the rest of his party could see a group of guards rushing towards them.

"LORD FINN!" The guard in the lead shouted at him. The guard in question had better stylized armor, so Finn figured he had to be of a higher rank than the others.

Finn waited till they were close enough so he wouldn't have to shout. "Yes? You need something?"

"The King requests your presence in the castle at once." The… Captain, Finn guess the rank of the man, hunched over gripping his knees. The others with him weren't much better.

"Why? Did something happen?" _It hadn't even been a day yet, _Finn thought troubled.

"It was the Shield Hero!" The Captain shouted at such a volume that Finn had to step back. Even the people around them turned to the Captain in surprise at the volume of his voice. "That Demon _attacked _his companion! You are and the other Heroes are needed to pass judgement on him."

At the Captain shout the people around them began muttering to themselves. Finn couldn't catch all the words, but it sounded like the people were _expecting _something like this was going to happen.

"Naofumi, really? Hmm, he doesn't seem the type?" Finn mused. _But I have been tricked before._

"That man is a Demon!" The Captain shouted again. "There is no telling the level of depravity he would sink too!"

"Okay! I'll come with you just stop yelling at me!" Finn shouted back at him.

The Captain skin paled as he took a step back and bowed to Finn. "My apologies, please follow me."

Finn sighed shook his head and motioned for the guards to go, as he started to follow them.

"Finn." Hunter interrupted Finn from leaving. "Remember what we said, and be careful."

"Don't worry about it, everything will turn out alright." Finn smiled at Hunter, then turn to follow the guards.

With that Finn left with the guards and returned to the castle. It took the better part of the hour to make it there, and along the way the Captain began to explain to Finn what Naofumi did, loud enough for everyone around them to hear.

_He's doing this on purpose, _Finn quickly realized, _He wants the whole town to know what Naofumi apparently did._

By the time they reached the castle Finn could practically hear the entire town ranting about the Shield Demon, and how he should be killed before he could hurt anyone else. _Do the people of this country hate the idea of the Shield Hero that much? _Finn knew hate, he had felt it enough times growing up. But the thought of hating someone you had never met before was almost foreign to Finn.

They pushed their way inside the castle ground and made their way to the throne room. Inside the other three heroes were gathered. Motoyasu and Itsuki stood above just before the King. The both of them were in armor, Itsuki was dressed in leather while Motoyasu was in black chainmail shirt, and wrapped around Motoyasu's arms was the red-haired adventurer that was with Naofumi. The one Naofumi attacked. The two heroes along with the King were glaring down at Naofumi. Who was being forced to his knees, surrounded by guards each with a spear pointed at his neck. His was also the only one in the room in his underwear and a thin shirt. _They must have dragged him out of his bed._

Above them residing in the balconies were, what Finn had to guess based on their finery, the Nobles of the country.

At Finn's entrance the conversation between the Heroes and the King died off.

As King Aultcray looked away from Naofumi and to Finn, the fierce hatred and almost triumphant grin washed away and a calm visage took its place. "Lord Finn, welcome. I was worried you would miss this."

"What is this exactly?" Finn asked as he slowly made his way towards all of them.

"Judgment!" King Aultcray declared. "This demon attacked the only person who dared to help him! But as much I would see this scum punished. We need all four heroes to combat the waves. So, for now as regretfully as it is, the Shield Demon will go free for now. But know this Shield Demon all of the kingdom will know of what you did."

So that's why The Captain was shouting out loud for everyone to hear.

"You can't be serious!" Motoyasu snapped pointing his spear down at Naofumi. "After what he did to Myne. You expect us to work with this bastard!"

"I agree." Itsuki simply said. "There is no justice in letting him walk. Lock up this animal like he deserves, or just kill him."

"You _Bastards,_ if you don't want me here than just send me home." The voice was so low and filled with hate that it took a moment for Finn to recognize it as Naofumi.

Finn walked in front of the others to stand before Naofumi, he in turned looked up at Finn. Naofumi's eyes were narrowed into slits and his teeth were bared as he snarled at Finn, there was also numerous scratches and dirt marks along his form. The guards weren't gentle with him it seems.

Finn had met a lot of people over the years, some good, some bad, and some who were a little bit of both. With all those people Finn had met he had learned that a person could hide many things but the one thing they couldn't fake, was what lied in their eyes.

Finn knelt till he could see Naofumi eye to eye. "Did you do it?"

Naofumi look as if he wanted to kill Finn with his stare alone, but Finn had met a lot of scarier things than him. By the time when he was ten!

"Did you do it?" Finn asked again.

A moment of silence passed and Finn wondered if Naofumi actually did it when the Shield Hero uttered in a voice barely above a growl. "No."

Finn looked in his eyes then to see what was there. The obvious thing was the hate in Naofumi's eyes, but that was just a cover for an overwhelming sense of despair. No lie though.

Breathing a sigh of relief Finn smiled as he reached out and gripped Naofumi's shoulders. Standing up Finn lifted Naofumi to his feet as well. Stepping away from Naofumi, Finn then turned to Myne, Naofumi's former partner. Myne, who at that moment chose to rushed into Finn's arms.

"It was horrible." Myne wailed uncontrollably. "He walked into my room, smelling of booze. Then he… he…" she buried her face in my chest and started crying.

"You Bitch!" Naofumi shout from behind us made Myne flinch as if she was being hit.

Myne looked up at me then, her tear stained face made her make up run. Her smaller form pressed against Finn's larger frame as she looked imploringly to make him believe in her.

And Finn didn't.

In her eyes Finn could see the fear and pain she was in, but beneath that buried so far that he could barely make out. There was this sense of pleasure and happiness running though her. _She was enjoying this, _Finn realized. The thought must have been clear on his face to Myne. As her face went from crying her eyes out to blankness was so sudden that it sparked a bit of fear.

"You're lying." Finn accused quietly.

"Yes." Myne admitted just as quietly. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Why?"

"Why not?" Myne smiled like a snake as she slipped from Finn's chest. As she turned around the tears came back. She then ran to Motoyasu and clung to him. From there her eyes found Finn's and stayed there.

"Lord Finn." King Aultcray called out to Finn. "Is there something wrong?"

Finn knew that the smart thing would to be quiet, but when had Finn ever done the smart thing.

"I don't think he did it." Finn spat out quickly.

A beat of silence… and the throne room exploded in noise.

"What the hell is the matter with you!" Motoyasu roared. "How could you possibly believe _him _over Myne."

"I can just tell, okay!" Finn shouted not really knowing what he could really say that would change their minds. "Besides the people here already hate Naofumi just because he's the Shield Hero."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Naofumi asked.

"Oh, it's like this whole big thing." Finn told Naofumi. "There was like this big war and the previous wielders of the Sword, Spear, and Bow was one side and the Shield Hero was on the other. After that people were divided on what side they liked more. This kingdom likes us and hates you."

Naofumi eyed narrowed in rage as he hissed. "I have to go through this bullshit, because of some stupid war!"

Aultcray took a sharp breath at Naofumi comment. The King glared down at Naofumi the hatred in his eyes laid bare. Naofumi returned it with a look of equal venom.

"Aultcray lost his little sister in the last war, apparently." Finn explained.

Naofumi eyes soften a bit a that information, he looked from the King then to Finn, but as his eyes passed out the still cowering Myne they harden again. "And? I'm not standing here and getting blame for shit I didn't do."

With that Naofumi turned to leave. The guards raised their spears at Naofumi as he passed, but just one look from him had the guards cowed and to afraid to make a move.

Finn saw from the corner of his eyes as Myne stepped forward and whispered into Motoyasu ear. As she did Finn saw his eyes widened as they locked on to Finn and then narrowed in rage. Myne in turned stepped away a smile on her lips.

_Oh this isn't good,_ Finn thought to himself.

"You Bastard!" Motoyasu bellowed as he did Motoyasu drew his spear and thrust it at Finn.

Finn in turned brushed aside the attack with the back of his prosthetic hand. Sparks flying as the metal blade scarped along Finn's metal arm. Twisting his wrist Finn gripped the shaft of the spear and forced the tip of the spear into the ground.

"What is this all about!?" Finn screamed out to Motoyasu. Finn risked a look at his arm and breathed a sigh of relief as it was unmarred.

Naofumi stopped his exit at the sound of metal against metal. Turning around to see the Heroes of the Sword and Spear clashing.

"You were threatening Myne just now weren't you!" Motoyasu shouted out. "She told me how you were there that night! You two were in on it together."

Finn stared at him in shock. "What?!"

As Finn was distracted Motoyasu let go of his spear with one hand to try and punch Finn. But Finn just caught it in his other hand. What Finn didn't noticed was his prosthetic breaking out into a few tendrils as they brushed along the gem in Motoyasu's spear, then quickly retreating.

_Sample acquired, _Owl said. Not that Finn heard it.

"Really?!" Finn yelled at Myne.

Myne screamed then, curling into herself. The smile on her face hidden within the crock of her arm.

At the sound of her voice Itsuki was moved to act, he pulled back on his bow and fired on Finn. The time it took for Itsuki to draw and fire was long enough for Finn to reach out and grab the arrow before it could hit him. Unfortunately doing so freed Motoyasu, who stepped away from Finn then thrust once more at him. The tip of Motoyasu spear hit a shield as Naofumi stepped forward to defend Finn.

The force of the weapons colliding sent both wielders several step backwards. Naofumi almost tumbling to the ground if not for Finn reaching out and steadying him. Motoyasu ended up next to the King, and already held his spear out ready to attack again. Itsuki at his side bow drawn as he switched his arrow from both Finn and Naofumi.

"Let's all just calm down." Finn held out his arm placating gesture, as around both him and Naofumi guards held spears aimed at them. Though no of them seemed to what to start a fight with two Cardinal Heroes.

"**ENOUGH!**"

A weight settled on Finn shoulders as wind from nowhere slammed into him from above. From the startled cries around him others were also hit with this incredible pressure. Finn was barley able to stay on his feet, as Itsuki, Motoyasu, and Naofumi were knocked prone to the throne room floor.

"Wh… what… is… this?" Finn grunted out. It was like some giant was stepping on his back trying to force him to the ground.

Standing from his throne with his faintly glowing cane pointed down at the them was King Aultcray. King Aultcray glared at them all for a few heartbeats. It was a tense moment where anything could happen.

"Father stop this, please."

Everyone in the throne room that could turned towards the sound, and watch in shock. As the Adventurer Myne draped herself along the King's shoulders.

"Are you sure, Malty?" The anger in Aultcray's disappeared and concern took it's place.

_Malty, I thought her name was Myne? _Finn wondered if he had been hearing the woman's name wrong this entire time.

"There has been enough violence this day. I have no wish for more." Myne? Malty said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

_Father? So, she's a princess? _Finn was beginning to feel a headache coming on. _I'm so lost right now. _

King Aultcray face flashed through a variety of emotions. Ranging from surprise to shame and then settling on calm.

"Okay." As King Aultcray spoke the spell holding the Heroes in place was lifted.

"All of you are to leave this place at once. To attack each other here at this time. You're all as shameful as the Shield Hero." Malty with tears in her eyes buried her face into the King's shoulder.

Finn was almost impressed. The only other person Finn knew who could spew such unbelievable bullshit and have people buy it was his father, Martin.

"As my daughter said, leave _now._" King Aultcray ordered dismiss the Nobles and Heroes as he slumped into his throne, rubbing his face tirelessly.

"Good idea." Finn agreed with false cheer in his voice. He tried to help the others up, but the only one who accepted his help was Naofumi.

What followed was a tense silence between them as the Four Heroes exited the throne room. As the door closed behind them, Princess Malty could still be heard talking to the gathered Nobles. There were guards behind them and infront escorting them out. Not that any of them noticed. Seeing as most of Motoyasu's attention was used to glare angrily at Naofumi and Finn. Itsuki, walked next to Motoyasu, Itsuki periodically switched his gave from Finn to the floor.

As they exited the castle both Motoyasu and Itsuki may have left without another word, but they gave Finn and Naofumi a death glare as they departed.

Finn and Naofumi walked to the castle gates and with an unspoken decision stopped and stared at each other. To Finn it felt as if Naofumi's earlier anger had cooled off and he looked lost. The silence stretched between them until.

"I'm starving." Finn proclaimed suddenly as he looked at Naofumi expectantly.

"I could eat." Naofumi replied.

"Great! Let's go find a diner." Finn laughed as he patted Naofumi on the back, as the both of them entered the town once again.

It didn't take long for Finn to notice the looks they are more specifically, Naofumi was getting from the people of Melromarc.

"Didn't take long for it to spread did it." Naofumi muttered to himself, the anger in his voice rising again.

"Pretty much." Finn agreed.

"Ugh, what the hell is this? This is not how it goes in the light novels at all." Naofumi grumbled to himself. "Man, I just want to go home."

"What's a light novel?" Finn asked.

XxX

It took some time to find a place to eat. As every time Naofumi approached a person they got this real disgusted look in their face. So, Finn had to asked them by himself. Getting the proper directions to a place Finn made it back to Naofumi changing in the alleyway.

"Where did you find those clothes?" Finn asked.

Naofumi was in the middle of throwing a simple green cloak over a basic pair of pants and shirt. At the sound of Finn's voice he nearly tripped and fell over.

"Me." A familiar voice said from behind Naofumi. The shiny, scared and, bearded head of Erhard the owner of the blacksmith shop. The man had a grin on his face as he stepped towards Finn. It disappeared though as he saw the condition of Finn's gambeson. "If you had actual armor that wouldn't have happened."

"Meh." Finn brushed off the critique. He turned to Naofumi. "You know each other."

"The Bitch took me to his shop." Naofumi explained.

"Bitch?" Erhard asked Naofumi, but when he didn't answered the Blacksmith turned to Finn.

"He's talking about the Princess." Finn explained.

"Princess?" Erhard looked confused for a moment, then his eyes widened in recognition. He jumped back from Naofumi. "That was the Princess! How are you not dead yet after what you did to her?"

"I didn't do anything!" Naofumi snapped.

"Right, I know what you said. You also don't seemed the type." Erhard tapped his chin and laughed nervously. "Although with some people, you never know."

"Right." Finn genuinely laughed.

"This isn't funny." Naofumi glare at Finn was enough to have him back down.

"Ah, right. Sorry about that." Finn apologized.

Naofumi just grunted at Finn as he turned his attention to Erhard. "How much?"

"Three copper." Erhard said without hesitation.

"Hm." Naofumi reached behind his shield and withdrew a bag of coin. Without opening it Naofumi tossed the entire thing to Erhard. "Keep the change."

Erhard tossed the bag softly in his hand. He then opened it and quietly counted the amount held within. His eyes widened as he took a step back. "There's 30 silver pieces in here!"

Erhard then placed it in the pockets in his apron without any hesitation.

_Didn't even offer to give it back or anything. _Finn thought amazed.

"You said you looking for a place to eat, right." Erhard said as he scratched the side of his beard. "Come back to my shop. I have some food stored in the back that I could offer you."

"You sure? Don't want to put you out or anything." Finn asked.

"It's fine." Erhard brushed Finn's concerns aside with a laugh. "I just came into some money and can afford to spurge a little."

"If you insist then lead the way." Naofumi said with a vein sticking out on his forehead.

Erhard just laughed as he walked away with Naofumi and Finn following.

XxX

Finn and Naofumi found themselves sitting next to a fire pit with a large bowl resting within it. The delightful smell of stew filling there nose and a variety of meat and vegetables filling there bellies.

"This is so good." Finn cheered already going back for his sixth bowl.

"Eh, it's kind of plain." Naofumi was still on his first bowl. He looked up from his bowl at Finn.

When they entered the shop Erhard had asked for Finn's gambeson to repair. When Finn gave it to him, Finn had also taken off the bloody undershirt as well. Revealing to Naofumi just how the prosthetic replaced Finn's entire arm, and also the extensive amount of scars covering his frame. Looking closely Naofumi could even spot a faint scar underneath Finn's eye.

"So." Naofumi asked awkwardly as he pointed to the prosthetic. "How did that happen? You know if you want to tell me.

"My dad did it." Finn answered without looking up from his bowl. "Well I did it to myself trying to stop him. Also he was my biological dad, not the dad you raised me. That's an important distinction."

"Your dad?" Naofumi said in shock. "How did that happened."

"Well that's a bit of a story." So Finn told Naofumi. About being found by Joshua and Margaret. To finding out his actual dad was alive. How he and his brother Jake broke into an inter-dimensional prison and accidentally broke out a bunch of criminals. One of which was his dad. Then how in Finn's desires for the truth of who he was tried to stop his dad from leaving and lost his arm as a price for his failure.

Naofumi open and shut his mouth a few times as he processed Finn's tale. "You seem fine considering what happened at least."

"Ha-ha! Nope, I was a wreck after that." Finn admitted. "I was angry at everyone and when I wasn't mad it was because I was to depressed to even leave my room."

Just remembering those months Finn spent in a complete daze was enough to send him to a dark mood.

"But you got over it, how?" The was something desperate in Naofumi's voice that Finn could understand.

"My friends, they wouldn't stand for me to be a sad sack around them and did everything in their power to cheer my up." Finn smiled at the memories. From Bubblegum arranging adventures for him to go on. Band practice with Marceline. Walks with Jake. Even, Lsp offering her… lumps for Finn to cry into. That memory still terrified him.

"Friends, huh. Well, guess I'm out of luck there." Naofumi sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Finn placed his hand on Naofumi's shoulder. "You got me."

Naofumi looked at Finn in shock. He tried to say something but instead his eyes just watered. He rubbed away the tears with a whispered. "Thank you."

"You ever need anyone to talk to just find me and… wait I have something for you." Finn grabbed his bag as he rummaged through it looking for… and he found it!

Unknown to the two of the as they were distracted their weapons gave of a faint glow as a new form was unlocked through their shared bond.

"Here." Finn cheered as he took out what looked like an eight sided die the size of his palm and colored pink. Finn tugged on it until it separated and handed one half to Naofumi.

"What is this supposed to do?" Naofumi held it up to his eyes.

"Watch." Finn said as he tapped on his half. Light rose from it a few inches off as a screen was formed. Finn heard Naofumi's yelp the same happened to his. The screen clear and Naofumi's surprised face appeared in it. "Cool right."

"Very." Naofumi smiled trailed off to a confused frown. "How dose it work."

"Don't know. Bubblegum said something once about quantum entanglement, but I have no idea what it means." Finn said as confused now as he was the day he was given the gem.

"Huh? Wait a second." Naofumi lifted his shield as it glowed with the same pink light as the communication gem. As they neared each other the gem was absorbed within the shield. As the glow faded Naofumi's shield had changed. It now looked like a giant rotary dial. "The hell? _Communication Shield_ what is that supposed to mean.

"Ah man, I only had one of those thing. Well if you didn't it." Finn complained as he to placed his gem piece on his sword. Once his glow had faded Finn's sword had changed too. The blade was square and matched the width of the guard, it was also made out of glass as he could see through it. Words flashed in front of him again.

**Catalyst accepted, Communication Sword unlocked.**

**Incoming call from Shield Hero, Naofumi**

**Do you accept.**

**Yes/No.**

"Yes." Finn replied. Instantly the word were replaced with the image of Naofumi face infront of him. Finn screamed as he fell flat on his back. He heard a thump as the same thing happened to Naofumi.

Finn stared quietly at the face of Naofumi, who just as quietly stared back and they started to laugh. Their laughter continued on for a few minutes.

"So, you were raised by dogs?" Naofumi asked in wonderment.

"Magical talking dogs, who ran a detective agency. That is an important distinction, I think." Finn said seriously.

A beat of silence.

Then they laughed even harder.


	5. Chapter 5

"So." Finn asked. "What are you going to do?"

"Hm." Naofumi grunted as he flicked his fingers through the air, eyes scanning something only he could see. But he wasn't paying attention at all to Finn's words.

Finn's eyes glanced towards the door Erhard had left through and still had not returned. With nothing else to do Finn decided to mess with Owl.

Tapping his forearm, the holographic screen popped up with a picture of a cartoon owl, it flapped it wings slightly and Finn heard Owl's voice in his ears.

_Greetings, Finn. Do you require assistance?_

"No." Finn said shaking his head. "Been wondering awhile, what can you actually do?"

…

Owl said nothing but the screen changed and two orbs appeared. A screen was attached to both of them with both showing a percentage bar that was only 1% filled.

"What's this?" Finn asked.

_One of my function is to scan any unknown that you encounter and send the information back to Princess Bubblegum and Minerva. Unfortunately, I have no connection to either of them so I am forced to use my onboard computer to analyze the cores of the Cardinal Weapons._

"How long will that take?" Finn asked.

_Current projections state around a hundred years._

"Hundred!?" Finn sputtered.

At his shout Naofumi's head jerked up and looked at him. Naofumi's eyes widened as he saw the lights of the screen atop of Finn's arm. Getting up from his seat Naofumi made his way over to Finn to stare at the screen. "Is that english?" He asked. "What dose it say?"

"It's a bunch of gibberish to me." Fin admitted, he then added. "You would need a lot of smarts to understand even a bit of it."

"Really?" Naofumi leaned closer to look at the words and numbers dancing along the screen. As he did Finn's arm jerked up and gripped the gem nestled in the center of his shield.

Finn snatched his arm away in shock.

Naofumi did the same with his shield, he looked at Finn suspiciously. "What was that for?"

On the holographic screen a third orb appeared as the voice of Owl echoed in Finn's ear. _New sample acquired._

"Will you stop doing that?" Finn growled at Owl.

"Stop doing what?" Naofumi asked.

Finn tilted his head to one side confused at Naofumi. "You can't hear her?"

Owl's spoke before Naofumi could answer. _I am speaking to you through your implants._

"Ah." Finn nodded in understanding till the meaning of her words registered in his head. "What implants!?"

The screen on Finn's arm changed the imagines of the orbs vanished. What appeared then was the picture of an outline of a person the organs and skeleton on clear display. The screen focused then on the head where a piece of circular metal was implanted in the brain. Wires spread out from it like roots of a great tree covering the brain in a wire mesh and spreading out through the body.

_That implant_, Finn thought, _looked like the one that was once on Susan's head_.

Susan Strong, was an amnesiac that Finn had found in an underground cave one day, with a bunch of fish people. A few years later it turned out she was someone called a Seeker of Founder's Island.

A Seeker's sole purpose was to keep all humans on Founder's Island and to bring back those who do manage to escape. They were also charged with protecting the Island from and dangerous creature that was able to bypass the gigantic Guardian. Which Susan had mentioned happened a lot more than people thought.

One time after Susan had regain her memories Finn had asked her what it was like to be a Seeker. Apparently the process was easy and the knowledge and skills deemed necessary was uploaded directly into their brains over the course of a few years.

"Why do I have something like that?" Finn muttered to himself, then another thought shot into his head. "When did that get placed into my head?"

Fortunately Owl had the answers Finn needed.

_All those born of Founder's Island have the necessary implants inserted during the first year of birth. Unfortunately yours was damaged during you departure from the island. It was only recently been repaired by Minerva when you came back._

Oh, wow Finn rubbed the side of his head. That was not something Finn had expected to learn about himself, or the Island.

A memory played through Finn's mind, of standing in an underground bunker. His mother placing his hand through a screen, a spike of pain through his brain, and his memories played across a screen like a TV show. He didn't questioned it then because he was dealing with his long lost Mom. But how did she do that? _Probably with the chip in my head,_ Finn thought to himself. But if both he and Susan had been chipped then…

"Then why was Susan's outside of her head?" Finn asked Owl.

_When it was discovered how easy it was to be damaged when placed externally, it was decided that it was safer to have them surgically implanted._

That's true, Finn had shattered the chip on Susan's head with a single strike. It had almost killed her to.

"Who are you talking to Finn?" Naofumi asked again concern lacing his voice.

"My arm." Finn answered Naofumi, then turning to Owl he asked. "Do you have a speaker installed?"

_Yes, I can use that if you prefer. _This time when Owl spoke Finn felt his arm vibrate softly at her words.

Naofumi jerked back and stared at Finn's arm in alarm. "It really can talk." He said amazed. "But how were you talking with it before?"

Finn explained to Naofumi about the chip. Which led to an impromptu course about the nature of Founder's Island. Finn didn't mention his mother to the man.

Naofumi let out a sharp whistle as he processed what Finn had told him. "The only reason I believe a single word out of your mouth is because I'm already living in a fantasy land. So, go ahead and toss some post-apocalyptic sci-fi world on top of it."

Finn let out a snort as he turned back to Owl. "What does the chip do."

_Allows you to connect with me and other machines and lets you access the island information network._

"That's it?" Finn said disappointed. "Susan could do all kinds of stuff."

_Susan was a high ranked Seeker and earned her upgrades. Whiles yours is the basic set of a civilian. If you had remained with the Island and chosen a vocation. As one rises through their respective caste, they are given greater boons. _

_I remember something about that, _Finn thought. His mom had once explained it. For the island to prosper it needed people in certain positions to make it all run properly. They were Seeker, Helper, Tinkerer, Provider, and Leader. His mom wasn't particularly high up their as a Helper somewhat mid-tier. But the virus that swept through the Island had wiped out almost all people in the higher tiers leaving people barley older than Finn. So after taking over Mom was so worried about the survivors that she took it upon herself and her army of identical robots to handle running the Island completely alone. She was only now letting them make decisions for themselves.

"Is that it?" Naofumi asked his tone skeptical. "Do as you told and toe the line because it gets you powers?"

"That sounds like Founder's Island alright." Finn mutter under his breath.

The door opened before anyone could say anything else as Erhard walked through, with Finn's gambeson tucked underneath one muscled arm. "Fixed your coat Finn." As he spoke Erhard toss the coat to Finn.

Finn caught the gambeson and put it on as he did, he asked the question that was burning through his mind. "So, what do we do next."

"What can we do?" Naofumi scowled, his eyes glittered furiously. "With that Trash of a king and that bitch running their mouths about me there is no one in this shitty country we can count on."

Erhard let out a cough.

"Present company excluded!" Naofumi snapped at the blacksmith.

"You want my advice." Erhard spoke up. "Keep your heads down until the Queen gets back and make your appeals to her."

"There is a queen?" Naofumi asked.

"Where is she?" Finn added.

"Yes, her name is Mirellia Q Melromarc. Right now, she in in a conference with the leaders of the other nations about the Waves of Calamities." Erhard explained.

"Could she help Naofumi?" Finn asked

"The queen is the one who actually rules the land, Aultcray is only acting a regent until she gets back. So yes, she could counteract the king's degree. If she would though is another question entirely." Erhard said with laughter in his voice.

Naofumi rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out an exacerbated sigh. "Why?"

"You've been accused of raping her daughter. That tends to make a person angry." The Blacksmith explained.

"I didn't… daughter?" Naofumi shot up at the mention of a queen's daughter, a princess

"Myne is King Aultcray's daughter. They said as much themselves in the throne room." Finn said as he finished off the last of the stew.

Naofumi vibrated in slightly rage, head hunched over muttering to himself. When he looked up and saw the concerned looks of Finn and Erhard the Shield Hero took a sharp breath and forced himself to calm down. As his rage subsided he went back to questioning the Blacksmith.

"You knew who she was the entire time." Naofumi accused Erhard with narrowed eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"She's the princess, everyone in this town knows who she is. Nobles playing at Adventures is something the bluebloods do all the time." Erhard explained not intimidated at all by Naofumi. He began taking the empty bowls and pot to his sink for cleaning.

"You also know a lot about what's going on." Finn noted.

"Old pals from my adventurer days still keep me in the loop." Erhard said as he washed the dishes.

"You use to be an adventurer?" Finn asked excited, his eyes sparkling.

"Aye, becoming an adventurer is the easiest way to make money and earn status in this world." Erhard said stopping his cleaning for a moment. "Its also the quickest way to die as well."

"Got any stories?" Finn asked.

Erhard froze mid scrub as he tensed up as if he had just been struck after a second he kept cleaning as if nothing happened. "Shouldn't you meet back up with your party." The Blacksmith said instead of answering.

Finn paused at that and tilted his head to one side confused. "Party? What party?"

Erhard stopped washing to look at Finn equally confused as him. "Your party Finn."

Finn's confused expression remained. "Did someone throw me a party somewhere and not mention it?"

"A party…" Naofumi said slowly as id explaining something simple to a very slow child. "… is the group of people you adventure with."

Finn was still confused. "Is being in a party important?"

"In games they are. With a party you can communicate without anyone listening in, take one monsters that you couldn't of by yourself, even share Exp and loot between yourselves." Naofumi explained.

That got Finn's interest. "How do you join a party?"

Naofumi rolled his eyes exasperated. "Their usually some option in the menu but this…"

"Found it!" Finn called out cheerfully.

"… isn't a game." Naofumi trailed off staring at Finn surprised. "Really?"

As Naofumi explained what was needed Finn opened up his menu and scrolled through the options. His eyes widened as he saw a new option, **Party Management.** "Weird that it wasn't there before." Finn mused as he pressed it. When he did a list of names appeared. Finn recognized them as the names of the three his was with yesterday, well he recognized two of them. When he scrolled by them there was then an option to accept their invitation. Which he did.

A notification had appeared saying that Tersia, Farrie, and Welt(?) had joined my party.

"Party members also share Exp. between themselves." Erhard explained. "it's the main reason people do so as it allows those of lower levels raise up by partnering up with someone with a higher level. It also cuts down on adventurers attacking each other over trying to get the final hit on a monster."

"You can share Exp. that way?" Naofumi asked, his voice desperate as he turned to Erhard.

"Uh, yeah… did she not tell you?" Erhard said looking confused at the Shield Hero.

"No." Naofumi seethed, he gave Erhard an imploring look. "Do you think you can give us tips about being adventurers.

Erhard finished the dishes and dried his hands, he turned then to Naofumi and then Finn. One eyebrow was in a silent question.

"I'm willing to learn." Finn agreed.

"Fine." Erhard took a seat on a crate and let out a groan, he gestured to the others for Finn and Naofumi to use. "Take a seat, this is going to take a while."

And so, Finn and Naofumi were introduced to the basics of the Adventurers life. From things like what monsters that always had merchants willing to buy parts from them. The merchants that will give a fair price to the two of them if they mention they knew Erhard. The local Adventurers guild location, though he mentioned that Naofumi wouldn't be able to join because of the King's decree. Other tips and tricks Erhard picked up other the years.

"Oh, right one more thing." Finn said as he turned to Naofumi.

"What do you want?" Naofumi groused, he had procured some paper and a quill and was in the middle of taking notes from Erhard.

"Tell me what you know about games?" Finn asked, the thought if one thing Naofumi said about games were true than others might. The only knowledge Finn had about games came from the ones that BMO, a super advance robot, made up one day and then deleted when he thought up a new one.

"I don't have a game like this one in my world like the other two." Naofumi pointed out his face darkening at the thought of the other two heroes.

"But you know games." Finn countered certain. "If the party thing works, then there must be others that do as well. All the games in any world can't be that different from each other, there have to be some similarities between them, right."

Naofumi looked at him blankly then his eyes widen, and he hit himself with the palm of his hand. "Stupid fucking idiot! Why didn't I think of that!" Naofumi stood up and place his hand against the crate, he closed his eyes in concentration.

A moment passed and the crate vanished in a small pop. Erhard stood in shock, Finn looked interested.

Naofumi let out a bark of laughter and gestured at the empty air and the crate reappeared and fell on the floor. Naofumi looked at it and laughed again hands thrown in the air. "I have an **Inventory**!"

"Inventory?" Finn asked.

"It's this thing in games that let's you carry a building full of stuff around with you at all times. It's basically inside you and doesn't weigh a thing and you can put anything in it." Naofumi explained a genuine smile on his face.

"Cool." Finn looked and just like before the option of **Inventory **appeared among the options that weren't there before. For a moment Finn wondered why it showed up when Naofumi said it was there, when even Naofumi didn't know it was possible until a moment ago. How did these things work was a mystery that Finn was not smart enough to figure out, lucky for him he knew people smart enough to answer any question. He would just have to find a way to reach them.

**XxX**

Finn yawned as he stretched his arms to the sun flying high up in the sky. He left Naofumi behind as the man started to experiment with his shield. Finn from long experience with Princess Bubblegum knew that kind of things could take hours and there was still some much time left in the day to worry about that.

"I just talk to him later to see what he figured out." Finn said to himself he had other plans right now. "Where is the Guild building, and where are the rest of those guys?"

Finn looked upward at the left corner of his field of vison and saw his name displayed with three bars sticking out from it. A red one on top, followed by a blue one in the middle, and a yellow one on the bottom. They represented Finn's Heath, Mana, and Sp., they were a part of Finn's H.U.D. a heads-up display, Naofumi had called it the most basic of basic in any game. Beneath that were the three names of his party with only their health bar showing. Finn focused on Welt's name and a slew of options appeared. He selected the on that said message and a cone with three half circles showed up next to Welt's name and static emanated in Finn's left ear.

The static cleared and a voice could be heard by Finn. "What in the hells was that?"

"Welt!" Finn said cheerfully that it actually worked. "Are you done selling the pelts? Where are you?"

"Wha… Finn… how are you in my head?" Welt voice was both confused and slightly terrified.

It was the work of the Communication Sword. It didn't just let Finn talk to Naofumi, but to anyone who was in Finn's party regardless of how far they were. It even had a list of contacts it could store of different individuals that Finn could contact like a cellphone.

Finn didn't say all this because he didn't really understand any of it so he went with something simpler.

"Hero power." Finn replied.

"Finn… is this really you?" Welt asked still unconvinced.

"Give me a second and you'll believe me." Finn with back to the options around Welt's name and switch the message from audio to visual. A screen appeared to the lower right of Finn's vision and Welt's confused face appeared within. "Better?"

"Amazing." Welt's eyes were memorized as they look at Finn, then something else overtook them and he looked away from Finn.

Finn frowned at that. "Something wrong?"

Welt still wouldn't look at Finn as he spoke. "What did you do at the castle Finn?"

"Helped out Naofumi. Why?"

"Because." Welt was aggravated. "There are bunch of rumors coming out about what you did, you got in a fight with the other Heroes, you attacked the king and his daughter, that you were working with the Shield hero to assault the princess."

"Wow, that was fast." Finn was impressed at the speed the story was spreading. He also wasn't particularly worried about the part he played in them. Lies always had a way of being revealed in the end.

"This isn't funny." Welt nearly screamed. "We need to talk? Where are you right now?"

Finn stopped walking and looked up, he had arrive at the Adventurer's Guild Hall. A Three story building made of wood and stone. Wide as it was long the building stood out among the others around it. People were entering and leaving it in a steady stream. Some carried weapons and armor while others had nothing but the clothes on there back.

"Adventurer's guild." Finn answered.

"Good we're close to there. We'll see you in a minute." Welt said and the call was ended.

_That can't be good,_ Finn mused to himself as he entered the hall. Stepping through the door Finn was hit with a wall of sound as he examined the place. The first was cut in half. One area to the left was dedicated to a reception a large counter was placed close to the entrance were a group of secretaries were tending to a line of people. Off onto the wall was a board that was filled with a multitude of papers. The right side of the place was a bar its counter set deeper within the building. A slew of tables were placed throughout with people sitting around eating and drinking, laughing and singing, everyone sat back and relaxed.

Finn walked to the counter and waited in line till it was his turned to talk. The secretary that met him was a pretty woman, long auburn hair, a pretty face, and dressed in the uniform.

"Reason for coming here?" She asked as she took out some papers.

"I'm here to register as an Adventurer." Finn said.

"Of course." The secretary took out another form and placed it on the counter. "Can you read and write?"

Finn looked at the form and it was written in the same language as everything else here. He couldn't understand any of it. "No, not this stuff anyway."

"Then I will fill it out for you." The secretary took the form and turned it around. "If you are willing to pay the proper fees we can have someone teach you to read and write. Would that be acceptable to you?"

"Um…"

_Unnecessary, _Owl spoke up in his head. _I can write up a program to help you learn myself._

"… I'm fine."

"Of course, sir." She took out a quill. "Name?"

"Finn Mertens."

"Age?"

"19."

"Role?"

"Role?" Finn echoed confused.

The secretary sighed. "A role is the part a person will play within a Party. You do know what a Party is sir?"

"I know what a Party is." Finn said even if he only new what it was an hour ago.

"Some Adventurers form Parties among themselves and keep them, others work alone. Some of the quest we have are too dangerous to be done alone, or people are worried to try them alone. As such it is our job to find others in which a temporary Party can be formed for the job. Knowing what role an Adventurer can do lets us find those people quicker. Understand?"

"Yes." Finn nodded. "What are the Roles?"

"**Warrior, Tank, Hunter, Rogue, Monk, Wizard, and Supporter**." The secretary recited from memory. "Those are the basic ones. Do you need me to explain what each one dose?"

"No, I'm good." Finn ran other the options in his head but only one of them appealed to him. "My role is **Warrior**."

The sword pulsed a bit at that proclamation.

"Excellent." The secretary said as she filled out the form. She then took out a tag and engraved it with Finn's information. She handed it to him when she was done. "This tag shows that you are a registered Adventurer. Don't use it as it will be needed to identify your body if you die."

"Really?"

"Yes." She nodded seriously, she then smiled at Finn. "Also if you come across any dead Adventurers during your travels be sure to retrieve their tag and bring them to the nearest guild hall. You'll be rewarded for your troubles I assure you."

"That's morbid, but I understand."

Great." She smiled again as she waved her hand towards the wall of papers. "Over to your left is our **Bounty Board**. It is filled with the quest, bounties, and request that were filed with us. Grab one and bring it to me I fill out a form that says you're on the quest once you completed it and returned we will pay you the agreed-upon sum. Have a nice day! Next!"

Finn blinked as the person behind him shoved him aside to talk to the secretary. Finn turned to the board as Welt and the other two came through the door.

Welt eyes scanned the room locked on to Finn and walked towards him. Finn stared at Welt's face confused.

"We should sit down." Welt said as he gestured towards an empty table. Finn went along with the suggestion and sat down on one side Welt on the other. Tersia and Farrie sat a ways away on another table.

They sat awkwardly for several minutes before it dawned on Finn what was happening. A smile cracked his lips and he leaned forward and asked. "Are you breaking up with me?"

Welt lurched back face pale. "It's not you or anything… um it's just that… well…"

"It's fine. This is about that church thing, right?" Finn waved over a waitress and ordered some drinks.

"You're not mad." Welt still looked ready to bolt.

"I've only known you for about a day. I don't expect you to stick around forever." Finn waved Welt's concerns away. "I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to do."

Welt watched Finn actively looking for any sign of a lie or trick. When he found none, he let out a sigh and stood up. Welt gave Finn a deep bow. "I'm sorry."

"I've already gotten past my abandonment issues a while ago." A waitress placed a mug down infront of Finn and he took a sip from it. His brow furrowed at the bitter taste of it. He gave Welt a look. "If you guys are in trouble or need something you can ask for help."

Welt straighten and smiled sadly at Finn. "You're a good man Finn, I hope that doesn't come back to haunt you."

Welt and the others then turned and left the building. When they were gone Finn sighed and looked to his left. There were no longer any names under his. Finn lifted his mug and downed the bitter fluid, he then down the others. He stood and dropped a few coins on the table and staggered his way over to the Bounty Board. He looked over the papers that he couldn't read, in a world he didn't understand and tapping the hilt of a sword he couldn't comprehend musing to himself.

"What do I do now?"

No one answered.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been little over a week since Finn had been summoned to this new world. He had picked up on a few key facts during that week. Mostly he studied and learned to read some of the local language, to the level of an elementary school kid. Which unfortunately was the same level he read English in. He had also learned a lot about how Adventurers worked here.

Adventurers were routinely hired to clear out the areas that had become infested with monsters, or to play escort for valuable objects and people. Unfortunately, due to the number of Adventurers and Soldiers that died during the first Wave of Calamity that struck Melromarc. The monsters that inhabited the country had resurface with a vengeance. Monsters that were close to the capital were quickly put down by the local military. But for those that lived near the border they only had the Adventurers to call on for aid. Unfortunately, Adventurers would only be able to help those who could afford it.

Any other time the Melromarc military would have been able to deal with them, but right now the military was effectively crippled, and the local taxes had been raised to help repair them. That had the side effect of forcing the outlining villages to near poverty. As such the only reward that they could put forward were little more than chump change compared to the dangers that fighting the monsters in the area would bring. Making the entire venture not worth it.

And so because no one killed the monsters they increased in number and strength, raising the difficulty of fighting them and the price needed as well, but the more monsters there were the less money the people on the outskirts could put aside for the adventurers, so with no money the monsters don't get killed. Then it all repeats in a vicious cycle.

Fortunately, Finn wasn't in this line of work for the money.

…

Finn ducked and rolled forward, barely avoiding a wooden club the size of a tree trunk from caving in his head. He popped up immediately and at the same time lashed out with his sword.

The blade easily carved through the rotund belly of the creature he was in battle with. It stood twice as tall as him and was four times as wide. It only wore a loincloth showing off its green skin and bulging muscles. Its pig like face let out a squeal of pain as it tried to back away from Finn. It was what was commonly referred to as an orc.

The orc backed away, as it did it swung wildly trying to keep Finn away. They were on a narrow pathway formed on the side of a mountain with the only way forward blocked by the orc's bulk. It was the perfect place to try to knock Finn down the mountain so it could leave, and if it tried that a week ago it might have succeeded. Instead Finn's form seemed to blur as he rushed into the orc's guard and plunged his blade into its chest. The force of the blow was so great it knocked the orc prone.

The orc let out a squeal with its final breath and died.

Finn panted a bit as he hopped from the dead orc to the ground. He flicked his blade along the ground to clear it of blood. He looked around the field for more orcs on the pass but none that he saw were still breathing.

Finn counted the orcs that littered the mountain pass. "How many do you think that makes altogether?"

_Adding to the creatures you killed within the caves, 40 monsters altogether, _said a voice only he could hear as Owl chimed in.

Currently Finn was on a job that led him to a village in one of the outlying territories that surround the country of Melromarc that acted as a border between them and the other nations. Each territory was controlled by a noble that in turn was subordinate to the King.

Finn was in the northwestern territory, where usable farmland was few and most of the area consistent of rocky plains and mountainous areas. The mountains were home to valuable minerals and gems but also home to powerful monsters.

The quest had started in some poor nameless village where Finn had killed the first wave of attackers, he then followed the fleeing survivors to their nest in the mountains. From there Finn entered a cave and laid waste to everything within. A few had escape in the fight hoping to flee from him and live another day, forcing Finn to hunt them down along the mountain path.

Which with his recently increased Perception stat it was all too easy to track them down. With it increased he noticed the smallest things that would have normally pass beneath his awareness. Sometimes he could even tell what people were thinking or notice if something was sneaking up on him.

"I don't feel any more orcs around us." Finn remarked as he strained his senses observing the area around him. "Can you see anything Owl?"

A soft droning sound filled the air as a small object shaped like a metal manta ray hovered infront of Finn. It settled on Finn's outstretched prosthetic hand and seemly merged with it.

_It appears as if all hostile enemies in the surrounding area have been eliminated._ Owl reported.

Finn clenched his fist a few times in thought. The first week here Owl had focused on repairing the functions she deemed most important. The one she had fixed first was the mechanisms necessary to create and use the substance called Digi-resin. It is a goo like-substance that could be programmed to take on any form. Mom and the other people of Founder's Island had used it to construct an entire city within a month of arriving on Ooo. The amount of Digi-resin Owl could hold and manipulate was small, but Princess Bubblegum had devised a way to make more on the spot.

With nanites, tiny little machines that could break down other materials and turn them into more Digi-resin. They were also the things responsible for letting Owl repair herself. Bubblegum had apparently set them up to self-destruct if they got too far away from Owl, to prevent another grey goo scenario from happening again.

"Never going to look at a cupcake in the same way again." Finn said to himself as he shuddered in remembered fear.

_What?_ Owl asked.

"They really made you loaded for bear." Finn changed the topic immediately, but still spoke the truth with the amazement clear in his voice.

_I was made to handle any difficulties you might encounter. _Owl said the exact same thing every time Finn paid her a compliment.

Finn turned to the dead orcs and began to absorb all of them into his sword.

**Catalyst accepted, Barbarian longsword improved.**

**Ability unlocked: equip bonus: increase strength by 5.**

That was another thing Finn had learned. By letting the sword absorb previous accepted catalysts the resulting sword got upgraded. Using the same material improves it only by little, but by finding a stronger variant the progress made towards its next level increased exponentially.

Also, Finn had learned through one of his chats with Naofumi, that every weapon The Shield Hero unlocked came with an ability.

Finn told him that he never saw one for himself but told Naofumi about his stat points that he could put in any stat that he wanted. When they finished explaining to each other, a new option appeared to them. Selecting it showed a list of descriptions on the upgrading method based on the other's descriptions.

It became apparent then to them that each Cardinal weapon had a system in place for each specific hero based on them. It was also able to use the methods of the other weapons if they were told about it. Sense then Naofumi had been insistent that they would regularly share any information they learned about their respective weapon.

As Finn thought on all of this, he made his way back to the village that rested near the base of the mountain. It was quite a large village as the location made it a good spot to stop at before and after visiting the mountain. That was then, now it was a shell if its former self.

The villagers had gathered by the gate when Finn left waiting to see if he made it back, or if he died up there. Finn stopped at the gate as his gaze passed over the assembled people to focus on the village leader, Reuben. An older gentleman, with a scraggly grey beard and bald head.

"You've returned." Reuben said excitedly as his hands rubbed together. "The monsters? Are they gone?"

"The ones leading up the path and into the mines are all gone." Finn informed him. "You guys should be safe for now."

At Finn's announcement the people cheered. Reuben turned to the people around them and gave them orders to head up the mountain to secure the mines. Young men and women obeyed as they rushed off for a few minutes then came back with weapons and armor. They huddled up and made there way up the mountain.

"Are you sure about this?" Finn asked concerned. "What if more monsters show up?"

"It is fine Finn." Reuben said a fierce smile on his old face. "Our people might not be as skilled as you, but they have hunted enough monsters that harassed our mines to gain quite a few levels. As long as powerful monsters don't take root like before, we should be able to handle it."

"Okay, if you say so." Finn said as he matched the man's smile. "If you can't handle it then put in another request to the Guild and I'll come running."

"Thank you again." Reuben said as he reached into his bag and gave Finn a small wooden token. "Safe travels."

As part of the process of the Adventurers Guild, when someone makes a request to them, they are also required to pay the guild the rewards for there request on the spot. It is to assure the adventurers that they wouldn't get cheated by the people in question. In turn the people are given a token to give to the adventurers after they are done. The adventurers then have to take the token to the Guild building they got the bounties from to get paid.

_So now we have to walk all the way back to Castle town to finish the job, _Owl said.

"We don't _have_ to, we _get_ to." Finn corrected her as he placed the token in his inventory and made his way to the village exit. Finn pulled out a map from his inventory and mentally plotted his course back to the Guild hall. Finn looked out towards the distance and sighed. "I really miss Jake right now."

_Why, _Owl asked.

"Jake would have stretched his legs and we would have been across the country in an hour." Finn explained as he followed the path that led to Castle town. "Now I have to walk for the better part of the day, until I can hopefully catch a caravan heading into the right direction, even with that it would take me a couple of days to reach the city."

The last time Finn had heard from his brother. Was when Jake went off on his interdimensional honeymoon trip with his wife Lady Rainicorn. A month ago.

_We should investigate alternative forms of transportation, _Owl suggested.

"Can you make a car?" Finn asked.

_No, the amount of Digi-resin I can manipulate is insignificant to create such a large scale and complicated device such as an automobile. To create such a thing would require a fully built foundry._ Owl explained.

"Then were walking."

**XxX**

To past the time as he walked Finn began to sing out loud to himself and Owl.

"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take one down pass it around 98 bottles of beer on the wall~"

….

"51 bottles of beer on the wall, 51 bottles of beer, take one down pass it around 50 bottles of beer on the wall~"

….

"Time is an illusion that helps us make sense so we're always living in the present tense~"

…

"Come along with me to the birds and the trees… is that how it went?" Finn muttered to himself as he walked along the path, the arrow in his mind leading the way. When he decided that yes that was the way the song went a scream of pain rent the air.

Finn was told once when he first left for a trip around the kingdom, to always stick to the main path as it was regularly cleared of monsters.

Finn ran towards the sound of the screams that emanated from a ways away from the path. After a few minutes of running he came upon them. Soldiers of Melromarc, there was an entire squad of them, and they looked rough. Their armor was sundered and broken in places, some were not even carrying weapons while others were busy carrying people. They were formed up and moved as one, the more able-bodied in the front holding off their attackers, and all the injured ones in the back.

They were being harassed by what almost looked like walking fish people. Finn tried to remember the name of the monsters. They all stood at around 6ft with pale green skin, covered in scales like a natural armor and eyes that were a glossy black. Arms draped below their knees ending in razor sharp talons and their maws were opened in an endless screech showing their needlepoint teeth.

There was also near 30 of them.

"Merrow." Finn muttered to himself. "Those are called Merrows."

15 of the Merrow were prowling towards the retreating guards while the others were piled together in groups feasting on the guards that were already dead. They greedily scooped handfuls of flesh into their mouths and growled at other Merrows that got to close. As some scoured the bodies clean, they stood to go after the still living guards.

Finn didn't slow down as he charged towards the guards, but as he reached the one farthest in the back, he jumped. His enhanced physical abilities let him easily clear the group of guards and he landed amid the Merrows.

As Finn's longsword plunged into a Merrow in the center of the group, the force of his leap stunned the others around him. Finn paused for a moment, marveling at the way he could move after leveling up a few times. The feeling of power coursing through him made Finn giddy.

With a smile that showed all teeth Finn crouched down and spun in a complete 360-degree circle, his blade catching the Merrows closest to him, cutting through their waist and sending them to the ground in halves.

The rest of the Merrow recovered and charged Finn, screams of rage emanating from them.

"Taffy Fields." Finn shouted as he stabbed at the ground, an effort of will turning the Cardinal blade into its candy form. As the blade contacted the ground it turned the area around Finn pink and sticky.

The Merrow that charged Finn took a few steps within the field and stopped in their tracks. The candied ground kept them stuck in place. Trapped and with nowhere to go Finn went to work hacking and slashing through the monsters like a scythe through a wheat field. With them dead Finn soon moved on to the rest, his blade bloody and smile still in place.

In many ways this place was the best, as there was always a fight around any corner and Finn found he had no real reason to hold back. Finn was always up for a fight, he loved fighting more than anything else really. Well, except for his friends and family of course.

The guards seeing the tide turning joined Finn in a renewed assault against the monsters and within minutes the only thing still standing in the clearing was Finn and the surviving Guardsmen.

"That was amazing." One of the guards said, an older man with a salt and pepper beard, his helmet was off showing his shaven head and he was a bit overweight. His voice was thick with pain as the man had a gash in his side that still bled slightly.

"Just doing my job." Finn said easily.

The man's eyes focused on the tag dangling from Finn's neck. An assessing look overtook his eyes as he looked Finn up and down.

"You're an Adventurer." The man said, a statement not a question.

"I am." Finn said sticking with the easier title.

Finn didn't necessarily lie, but he found out that while most people of the country knew that the heroes were summon, most of them didn't know what they looked like. Finn enjoyed the anonymity of it all and didn't want to lose it, so he never told anyone he was one of the Cardinal Heroes. The king and most of the nobles knew of course but they didn't mingle with people below their stations, so Finn's sort of secret was safe.

"I'd like to hire you then." The man said his eyes flickering around looking to see if there were more monsters coming for them.

Finn didn't bother looking, because if there were any monsters close by then his Perception would have picked them out long before they pounced.

"What kind of job?" Finn asked.

All around them the other Guardsmen were bandaging their wounds as best they could and were getting ready to move out. Some of them were digging around the corpses of the dead guards, pocketing things and moving on to the other bodies. Finn figured that they were looking for identification and if not, well Finn has looted the fair number of corpses while growing up.

"Me and my men were taking a…" the man paused looking at Finn again in that assessing manner. "Prisoner when he killed some of my men and fled into the forest. We set off in pursuit to recapture him but ran into those things." The man trailed off and shivered slightly in fear. "If not for your intervention I feared we would have died."

Finn could tell where this was going.

"You want me to find him for you?" Finn guessed.

"Yes." The man said his eyes narrowed. "I'm willing to pay you from my own personal funds, if you managed to capture him and bring him back to me."

"How much is that?" Finn asked.

"15 gold pieces. Not a piece higher." The man said.

Finn paused considering, the way money worked in this world was that of metal coins made of bronze, silver, and gold. The value increasing with each one as well. The way it went was 100 bronze coins were equal to 1 silver piece and 100 silver were equal to 1 gold piece. So far, the only money Finn has made has been in the form of bronze or silver. Finn wasn't worried about money since he didn't spend much of it anyway, except to buy food. As he usually slept outside or in stables, he didn't have to pay for a room either. Even so gold just was not something to be tossed away.

"Okay." Finn agreed. "I'll do it."

The man smiled and let out a hearty laugh. "God must have shined down on me in this moment to send you here in my time of need."

Finn laughed nervously with him, but he had a few questions to ask before he could go. "What does he look like?"

"Small, would barely come up to your knees. He has black and white hair and is dressed in rags. Most importantly is that the prisoner is a Demi-human, some breed of dog and is around ten years old." The man said easily as if there was nothing wrong with what he said.

Finn blinked confused as he asked for clarity. "Did you say ten years old?"

"Yes, is that a problem?" He asked curiously. "With the way you handled those other monsters, some Demi-Human trash shouldn't be much of a problem."

Finn clenched his fist as the smile dropped from his face and he did his best not to clock the man infront of him. If there was one thing, he didn't like about this place was the people's hatreds towards someone just for looking different from them. For Finn, a person who grew up as the only human in a land filled with every kind of being imaginable, it was impossible to wrap his head around. All he knew was he didn't like it when he saw it. He decided then to end the conversation there before he did something rash.

"Where will I find you after I have him?" _Then I'll know where to go to avoid you._ Finn finished in his head.

"Take the path down south for a few miles and you will come across an outpost, there I'll be staying until the next morning and then I'll be off to the capital." The man said pointing off into the distance.

"Got it… um… you never told me your name." Finn said apologetic.

"Hah where are my manners! I am Captain Bennett." Bennett said with a bow, he let out a little groan as he bent over but stood up straight again. "Thank you again for your help."

"Thank me after I'm done." Finn said.

"Be careful Adventurer, the little bastard is quick on his feet." With that last warning Captain Bennett let out another laugh as he ordered his men to move out. Which was slowed as those that were injured had to be carried but eventually, they were all on the path and heading for their outpost.

Finn waited till he was sure they were gone, then he turned to the dead Merrows. He held his sword out to them and let it absorb the corpses. In a brief flash of light, the clearing was free of bodies with only the stained ground showing something had happened here. Finn checked to see what he had unlocked.

**Catalyst accepted, Water Dwelling Sword unlocked.**

**Ability locked: equip bonus: increased swimming speed 1.**

**Catalyst accepted, Man Slayer Sword unlocked.**

**Ability locked: equip bonus: increased attack against humanoid figures by 5.**

The first one made since, but how did he unlock the second one?

"Oh, it was probably because of the dead guards." Finn realized. Eh, worries for later.

Finn held out his mechanical palm, as he did an orb of goo gathered there, it formed quickly into a manta ray type drone that took to the air without any sound. It buzzed around Finn slowly and then took off into the surrounding area. When it was gone Finn held his arm parallel to his chest as a screen appeared atop it. The screen showed the surrounding area from a bird's eye view as Owl spoke to him.

_Where shall I focus the search? _Owl asked.

Finn paused in thought for a minute. If the guards were attacked by Merrows when they cornered the kid, then it would be best to start there. Merrows usually stayed around waters so…

"Look for large bodies of water, like a lake or a river." Finn told her.

As the Manta Drone flew up through the air the view on Finn's screen widen until most of the land around him was in view. The drone paused as it saw a river to the west of Finn. Moving quickly through the air it headed towards the river and flew along the edge of the riverbank.

It took a few passes but eventually Finn saw something near the edge and directed the drone towards it. It was the remains of a few Merrows and a couple of guards. Looking closer at them it looked as if they had killed each other, but there was no sign of a kid.

Still it was Finn's best bet, so he had the drone stay there as he made his way towards it.

Finn quickly made his way through the forest following the trail the guards made as they ran through it the first time as they fled from the Merrows and without much issue made his way to the river. But even if he wasn't being attacked at the moment, Finn still kept his senses peeled watching everything around him to make sure he wasn't snuck up on.

_Why are you looking for him? _Owl spoke up as Finn walked through the forest.

"What do you mean?"

_I felt the way your heartbeat spiked, you do not want to help this captain so why are we looking for the boy._

"You're right, I'm not helping that man. But if there is a kid stuck in these woods filled with monsters then he needs help. So, I'm going to help. Simple as that." Finn explained.

Finn cleared the tree line and made his way to the dead bodies. He was lucky to have gotten here so fast. If Finn were a little slower the beasties in the woods probably would have dragged the rest of the remains away somewhere else to eat.

Finn didn't pay much attention to the bodies, except to note that most of their flesh was already eaten. Instead, Finn turned his attention to the surrounding area. He was trying to get a sense of where everyone scattered when everything went down. Finn wasn't much of a tracker or a hunter and what he was taught was haphazard at best. There was one trick he had learned though that he could put to the test.

Finn took a deep breath and focused using what little knowledge of the forest he had, combined with the blood stains and slight disturbances to the bushes and grass, Finn tried to guess at what could have happened here. As he did a picture began to form in his head.

The guards rushed forward breaking through the forest line and cornering their quarry towards the river's edge, only for the Merrow to then burst free from the waters depths and attack them. The guards fought them off best as they could then retreated the way they came. The Merrow following them eager to fill their stomach.

"But if they went that way..." Finn muttered. "Then where did the kid go?"

Finn looked around at the scene again hoping for something to jump out at him, he even squatted down to get a look at the grounds, hopefully he would find some footprints or something. After a few minutes of inspection Finn could not see anything. But he did hear the slight rustling of a tree branch.

Finn glanced at the source of the sound from out of the corner of his eyes and saw at a figure as they tried to hide themselves deeper within the shadows created by the canopy of the trees.

Carefully and quietly, Finn looked around the floor for a decent size rock. Seeing one that was the perfect size Finn reached down and grabbed it. Taking one more chance Finn glanced back to the figure in the trees. They were looking at Finn, but the way they kept still it looked as if they thought themselves unnoticed.

For now, anyway.

Smiling at what was about to happen Finn burst into motion. Popping up Finn spun towards the trees, the arm with the rock in it held out at his side. Using the force of his spin Finn turned his arm into a makeshift sling. Releasing his grip on the rock at the right moment Finn sent it rocketing towards the trees with all the strength his leveled-up body could muster.

There was a loud whoosh as the rock sped across the clearing. A startled scream as the figure in the shadows saw what Finn had did. Then a thud as the rock smacked into them. The creaking of breaking wood as they fell out of the trees. And finally, a satisfying plop as they fell towards the floor.

"Yes!" Finn exclaimed pumping his arms in victory, he made his way toward where they fell to collect what was almost definitely a monster waiting to attack him. When he saw what was laid out near the base of the tree though his face paled.

A small, skinny, and probably malnourished child laid on the ground before Finn. His black hair had white highlights mixed in and a set of dog ears twitched periodically atop his skull. He was wearing rags that had only worsen from his stay in the woods. His eyes were blankly staring at the sky as figurative birds flew around his head. Looking at his head Finn also saw that there was a rather noticeable bump on it.

_Ah, _Owl said helpfully. _You found the child._


	7. Chapter 7

"Well this is embarrassing." Finn muttered to himself.

Leaning over the unconscious kid and Finn tried to shake him awake. As he did Finn took a better look at the kid.

Besides the two-tone hair and damaged clothes, the kid was also covered in dirt and had collected numerous deep scratches, probably from running into the woods, that were still bleeding slightly. Finn frowned at that, depending on how long he has been out here a couple of those scratches could have become infected.

As Finn continued to slowly prod the kid, his eyes slowly flickered open. They looked blearily around until they landed on Finn. Fear shot through the boy like an arrow wiping away the drowsiness from his eyes. He let out a startled screech as he crawled backwards away from Finn. He crawled until his back hit the tree he fell from, he tried to move around it but couldn't as his fear-stricken eyes have remained locked on Finn.

Finn took three long steps away from the kid, raising his hands up palm facing the kid. He made his posture as non-threating as possible.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, but eventually the kids breath even out and the all encompassing fear in his eyes disappeared. Though it was immediately replaced with weariness.

Finn smiled calmly and made a show of very slowly reaching into his gambeson. His eyes flickered around and opened his menu and went through his inventory, finding what he was looking for Finn pulled out his hand. In his palm was some of the leftovers of his dinner last night, smoked and salted monster meat. He held the food out to the kid and waited.

As soon as the food was out in the open, the kid's eyes shot to it. His mouth opened slightly as the smell of it hit his nose, drool gathered in his mouth. He looked from the food then to Finn and took a slight step forward. When Finn didn't move, he took another step, then another. After a few more shuffling steps the kid was within arms reach. He extended a hand towards the food and shot on more look Finn's way, then with as much speed as he could muster snatched the food from Finn's head and ran back towards the tree. When he reached it he circled around to put the base of the trunk between him and Finn. With that done he sat down and tore into the meat.

Finn waited until the kid paused in his eating to speak up. "So, uh, what's your name?"

The kid stopped chewing at Finn's voice. For several seconds there was silence and Finn thought he wouldn't speak till he heard a tiny voice, rough from disuse. "Keel."

"Keel." Finn said. He smiled and tried to keep his voice gentle. "What happened to you?"

After another lengthy pause Keel began to speak of what happened to him. "It was a normal sunny day. I was out playing with my friends when the sky turned red."

Keel curled up into a ball and hugged himself. "None of us knew what was going on. We just stared up at the sky. Then there was this cracking sound, like a bunch of glass windows just all broke at the same time."

He started to rock back and forth. His voice going distant. "Then the monsters came and… and started killing everyone."

Finn risked a stepped forward when Keel said that and when he didn't react. Finn took that as permission to make his way forward to Keel. He stood and rested against the tree to get a better look at Keel.

Keel was still rocking in place but now Finn could see the clear stream of tears running down his face cutting a clear line though the dirt and grime that covered it.

"I… I saw people I knew all my life die, th… there was a giant dog with three heads it ripped apart this old lady I knew that always made cookies for me to eat."

Keel took a shuddering breath and continued.

"Dad grabbed as many of us as he could and dragged us into a storm cellar. He could of stayed with us but even in there we could still hear the screams. So, dad looked at me say he'll be back and left closing the cellar doors behind him."

Keel turned to Finn, a miserable look on his face.

"He didn't come back. After that we stayed in the cellar for what felt like days until the noise died down. When we came back up the village was gone, every house was reduced to rubble and th… there wasn't even any bodies left. Then… _then those soldiers came._"

The sadness in Keel's was replaced with something uglier.

"They took us, dragged us from our homes and put us in chains and cages, fed us scraps and then one by one they took them away. I couldn't do anything. Just watch as everything, everyone was taken away. Then it was my turn. As I was being carried away in a cage in the back of a cart, I was able to slip through the bars and run away."

Keel let out a short barking laugh.

"I was in the trees before they even knew I was gone. They came running after me soon enough, but I was small and quick and was able lose them in the forest for a time. I made it to the river when they cornered me. Thought that was it, then those fish things burst from the water and fought those bastards. I hid in a tree to wait them all out."

Keel turn to give Finn a petulant glare.

"Then you threw a rock at me."

"Sorry." Finn said reflexively. His head rested against the tree as he processed the tale Keel weaved him. He mentally ran over his options at this point, but only one was palatable to him. "Do you know where that camp is?"

Keel turned a curious gaze towards Finn, then his eyes widen as Finn's words registered in his ears. "No, but I know someone who does."

"Well then." Finn said. He realized who Keel was talking about and a smile crossed his lips. "Let's go talk to him then."

"Talk!" Keel shrilled. His voice cracking. "What makes you think he'll tell you."

"Eh." Finn said. Nonchalantly waving off Keel's concerns Finn turned and headed towards the direction Captain Bennett pointed out. "I'll figure something out."

"Wait!" Keel shouted. He scurried up from where he sat and ran to Finn's side. He latched on to Finn's sleeve in a fever grip. Let me come with you!"

Finn looked at Keel, searching for something in the younger kid. Finn blinked once, twice and nodded.

"Fine you can come, but you have to listen to me." He said.

"Yes!" Keel agreed, nodding his head so fast that Finn thought it might pop off.

Finn sighed rubbed his nose and walked to the Outpost with Keel in tow.

**XxX**

Outpost Callum, was one of several forts that the kingdom had set up within the various territories that border Melromarc. Centered around a tower tall enough to see towards the horizon, it had several stone buildings and a couple of tents set within a fortress wall.

It was a place for soldiers, couriers, or anyone working for the kingdom to rest in a fortified position designed to withstand random monster attacks. It was staffed by constantly rotating garrisons, whose job was to keep the place and the territory it was in secured.

The current people that were stationed here were that under Bennett's command. It was a position of great honor to be entrusted with the safety of the people of Melromarc.

It was also one of the worst most dead-end position one could be forced to have within the military. Stranded in a hostile environment with a low rate of pay and high chance of death. So, to survive out here and earn a living one had to find alternate sources of income.

"To the Fallen!" Captain Bennett bellowed out and cheer was echoed out through Outpost Callum. The cheer was warranted as he and his men made it back to Outpost Calam without further incident.

_Well, what's left of my men. _Bennett thought. Bitterly he slammed his mug on the table with enough force that there was a chance it or the mug would break.

He took a look at his gathered men and knew his opinion was one of solidarity among them.

"That bastard!" snarled one of them, a man by the name of Jared. "We lost good people because of that fucker."

Mutters of agreement echoed out from the others. This embolden Jared and he continued.

"We shouldn't have just stop looking for him. I say we track the mutt down and put him down!" Jared said, his plan electing even more cheers.

"With what people?" Bennett asked. Unlike Jared's loud booming voice, Bennett's tone was kept at a conversational leveled and measured. It was still enough to quiet all conversations in the makeshift tavern. "Of those that made it back, half of _my men_ are still being attended to by the healers stationed here and won't be ready to move till morning. Even if they could with the sun going down traveling through the monster infested woodlands is suicidal at best."

"So we just let him go?!" Jared asked. His voice incredulous.

"Weren't you listening to the captain." Another one of Bennett's men spoke up in his defense. "The mutt is probably dead already."

"And if he isn't?" Jared continued to prod, not for any other reason than with Bennett could assume was a desire not to appear weak infront of everyone.

"Then that Adventurer he hired would bring him back here." Some new voice chimed in.

_That Adventurer. _Bennett mused. _Something about him was clawing at the back of my head. Something familiar but I just couldn't place it._

"But what a waste of gold we could of made off him."

"Eh, we made plenty of money from the rest of."

"Quiet!" Bennett snapped as he looked around the room. Only his men were inside, but you never know when someone could be listening. When he saw no one else was around Bennett let himself relax slightly, not all the way though as he was incensed. "Do not talk about such things were anyone and there dog can hear you."

"Sorry, captain." The apologies were repeated by everyone gathered there.

Honestly this wouldn't have been nearly as much trouble twenty years ago. Before the new laws the Queen had enacted. The ever increasing restrictions on the slave trade made it as close to illegal as possible to sell the people of Melromarc within Melromarc. There were too many hoops to jump through to sell every weary traveler that he came upon anymore.

That was why the Waves of Calamity were such a godsend. With so much chaos and monsters running rampant it was easy enough to disappear a few lowly animals and claim them dead. From there he had to reach out to a few people, set up a few deals, and quieted a few discontented voices. He couldn't do it all alone course but then that's what having friends in high places means. But if that makes it to people who actually care about things like that then he would be in trouble. Fortunately, the chances of that happening were slim and getting slimmer every day.

"Sir!" A solider walked into the room and made his way to Bennett. Not one of Bennett's men but one that was stationed here at the outpost. "There is some Adventurer here to see you."

Bennett stood up abruptly, the sudden movement startling his men. Bennett paid it and them no mind. He marched to the door and walked out of the tavern and made his way to the front gate.

As he made his way there his men pulled from the tavern and surrounding area to follow him. The party he took to deliver the child was but a fraction of the men station here, and even though most of them didn't have a clue about his secondary source of income, they were still loyal enough to follow his orders.

Making it to the gate Bennett saw there flanked by two soldiers was the adventurer, Finn. Bennett took a closer look at the man. Dirt still clung to the man's trousers, the brown mixing in well with the black fabric. That along with the faded royal blue of his gambeson, most likely from repeated hand washing in any available water source, and lack of any adequate armor.

Such an unkempt attire would have any solder of the kingdom weeping in shame. But for an adventurer that look was entirely appropriate for fools who's only saving grace was their ability to kill.

Bennett had the man pegged immediately as some down on his luck adventurer, but one with enough skill to take on a group of monsters and come out on top.

The type of person most likely looking for easy coin.

"Did you find him?" Bennett asked without preamble.

"Um, not exactly." Finn said. He scratched at the start of a scruffy beard on his chin. "I found what was left of him though."

Bennett suppressed a grimace. That was a mixed bag, with that Demi-human gone there was no chance but that one was supposed to be a gift and a key to earning a favor from a powerful noble.

"So, about that coin?" Finn asked.

"Come with me this isn't the kind of conversation that should be held in public." Bennett said, walking away.

Bennett didn't look back but heard Finn as he hurried to catch up. The adventurer walked past the guards and followed him. Bennett then gave his men a curt nod and a obscure gesture to follow as he led the adventurer to his own private housing, a simple bricked house and a thatched roof only large enough to contained a single room.

The room itself wouldn't be out of place in any regular inn, but out here in the wilds it was a veritable palace. A simple bed rested next to a desk covered in papers and maps laid to one side of the room while a simple weapons rack and armor stand sat in the other. The only light came from a small fireplace built into the wall near the middle of the room.

Bennett reached into his coin pouch on the table and withdrew the gold coins, they gleamed slightly in the firelight. Bennett held the coins out to Finn, who as he reached out for them Bennett drew back his hand.

"How did he die?" Bennett asked. The tone was light, but his eyes were searching for any sign of deceit.

"Merrows got to him, ripped him up pretty badly when I got to him." Finn said. He wasn't looking directly at Bennett but at the hand holding the coins.

"He say anything before he died?" Bennett asked.

"Something about a village, wasn't really paying attention to his words. To busy making sure what happened to him didn't happen to me." Finn said. He then tilted his head to the side a curious lilt in his voice. "Where'd you find him anyway."

Bennett paused at the question. Usually adventurers that asked question are of one quality or another. Useful to have around for tricky situations or another problem to take care of. Bennett had met many of these different types throughout his career and learning how to manage them was what let him rise as high as he did, and he would rise further still. It was just that now he didn't know which category Finn fell into.

"Some miscreant misplaced because of the Wave." Bennett said holding out the coin, this time letting Finn take them.

"You most be out of a lot of gold because of this then, huh?" Finn asked. His eyes own the gold in his palm silently counting it out.

"Not particularly, the one was meant as part of a package deal." Bennett said ideally.

"Deal?" Finn said. His gaze snapping from the coin to Bennett's. "What kind of deal."

This was a risk, Bennett knew. Telling this adventurer that. But it was a calculated risk. This deep in the fort if Finn made any trouble or say anything, he didn't like then Bennett and his men would cut him down before he could do anything about it.

On the other hand, if he could get this adventurer on his side that could open up other options for him. Afterall the more power they gathered to them the easier the transition would be.

"I provide the noble in charge of this territory with sufficient entertainment and he agrees to look the other way as I conduct certain business transactions."

"The noble in charge." Finn's brow furrowed. "Who is that one? I always get them confused."

"Idol Rabier, he comes from a long line that has been around since the founding of Melromarc." Bennett said, he placed a hand over his chest. "A dear friend of mine, and not someone you want to make angry."

"Which he will be with the kid gone. Unless you have replacements?" Finn asked, a speculative gleam in his eyes.

"Unfortunately, he was the last of the product I had in stock." Bennett said with a tried sigh

"Really? Then what happen to the rest of them?" Finn asked, a stilted smile on his face. His body shifted as well going into a loose stance as if ready to pounce or run.

The air in the room changed and Bennett found himself tensing mentally preparing himself for combat. His eyes went to his sword placed against his bed. It'd be close but…

"Rest?" Bennett said. The type of Adventurer Finn was starting to become clear to him.

"People like you don't stop at one and as old as you are Keel can't have been your first." Finn said. His tone going cold.

"Keel? I don't know who that is…"

Finn moved clearing the span of the room in an instant, one hand grabbing Bennett by the throat and slamming him against the wall. Bennett gagged as he was held aloft his feet dangling above the ground. He tried to struggle against the hand holding him down, but the grip was as strong as steel.

"Man, I tried to be patient with you and let you tell me what I wanted but you are just the worst." Finn said. "So, tell me where the other people from Keel's village are."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bennett snarled. His hands wrapped around the Adventurer's hand and tried to pry it loose, but the hand wouldn't budge.

"You seemed to know a lot a second ago." Finn said tightening his grip around Bennett's neck. "Where are they?"

"Gone where?" Finn grip increased to the point of breaking.

Bennett tried to speak but could only gasp frantically for air, so Finn lessened his grip so he could speak. "Out of the kingdom!"

"You still haven't told me where!" Finn snarled. "If you don't tell me something useful, I'll keep squeezing you till you pop like a zit!"

To prove his point the hand around Bennett's throat tighten once again. Before his last breath he was cut off Bennet said. "Beloukas!"

Finn said nothing but eased up off his hold long enough to take a breath.

"Beloukas?" Finn blinked. "What's that?"

"A Slave trader in Castle Town." Bennett gasped, his eyes bulging. "I just provided the product, he set the deals up and someone else handled transportation."

"Keel's village wasn't the first time you did this, just the latest." Finn said. "How many?"

"Don't know of the top of my head. But I kept records just over there." Bennett said looking over to his table.

As Finn turned to follow his gaze, Bennett reached behind his tunic and drew a dagger he had sheathed there. Without giving the other man a chance to react Bennett plunged the dagger into his forearm, breaking the Adventurer's grip and letting him dive for his blade and run the bastard through.

…

Or it would have if the blade didn't shatter as it made contact with something a lot harder than mere flesh. The blow did tear Finn's sleeve revealing the sleek metal underneath.

The sleeve slid down Finn's arm revealing the metal arm in its entity. The sight of it was enough to jog the scattered memories of rumors he had heard about the summoned Heroes. That one of them had an arm made entirely of metal.

"You…" Bennett stammered out, terror flooded his body and sent his mind racing as he processed this fact. "You're the Sword Hero."

Finn turned to Bennett, then looked from the shattered dagger to the scuff mark on his arm. "Yep."

Finn started to squeeze again, and this time Bennett knew from the bottom of his soul that this time Finn wouldn't stop.

"You can't do this." Bennett tried to reason with the Hero.

The unfeeling cold hand tighten, and black rushed into and cloud Bennett's vision. His lungs were burning in his chest and he knew he was going to die. Yet still he struggled as he slammed fist after fist on the Hero's arm to try and break his grip, it didn't budge. When he tried to kick at the man it felt like hitting stone. Soon though his strength abandoned him, and he hung limply in the Hero's grip.

"Please, I know things." Bennett pleaded.

The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was the dispassionate face of the hero.

**XxX**

_He is still alive, _Owl said. Her tone was a monotone, but Finn could here the tinge of curiosity in it.

"Can't kill someone begging for their life, goes against my rules." Finn grunted, not quite believing his own words but keeping to them.

Finn spared the unconscious body of Captain Bennett one more disgusted glance before moving to the man's desk. He poured over the various writings and letters left on the desk, putting most of it into his inventory to review later.

It was easy enough to find the Outpost that Captain Bennett pointed out to him, it was easier still to get inside and get one on one with the Captain. The truly hard part of it all was always going to be just how to make the guy talk.

But it was like his brother always said, the best way to get a scumbag to talk was to get them to think you were on their side. Finn had tried to follow that advice it was that every word out of the man's mouth made Finn want to beat the Captain's head in. So, Finn went with the other method Jake had taught him, grab the crook by their neck and make them spill the beans. The age-old Good cop, Bad cop never failed even when you had to play both sides by yourself.

There were several letters here from Bennett to various others but with no name signed. A map with like the one Finn had but with additional markers on it, a diamond with one half short and stout while the other half was long and thin with a crescent placed on top.

Finn rolled up the map and placed it in his inventory and turned back to the letters, some were in a code that he couldn't decipher so he placed them in the inventory. But one was complaining of a need of a replacement and marked with a waxed seal. Another one was from this Beloukas saying that another deal could be made if one with certain characteristics were included with the batch. Those also went into the inventory, along with the coin pouch Bennett left on the table.

He made his way to the door, opened it and was almost cut down as a solider swung for his head. Finn lifted his arm and used it as a shield deflecting the blow and countering with one of his own. Finn's fist crashed into the top of the soldier's helm cracking it and the man's skull sending him to the ground in a heap.

Taking a quick look around Finn saw that he was surrounded by the soldiers of the outpost and silently cursed to himself. He guessed that his conversation with the Captain was not as quiet as he hoped. The soldiers didn't give him time to think as they rushed him, armed with spears and blades.

Finn ducked back into the housing using the door frame as a chokepoint and negating their number advantage. Finn reached for his blade and drew it, as he did the sword shifted and instead of holding one sword, he held two daggers.

He made quick work of the first few people that tried to come through the door, a few parries and a couple of slashes sent them scurrying away bleeding. The rest were then to wary to try their luck.

Finn slammed the door shut and braced himself against it.

"Any ideas?" Finn asked.

_Run, _Owl suggested.

"Where?" Finn grunted as the guards started to bang and push on the door. He also felt the pinpricks as the stabbed at the door with their weapons.

_Away from here, _Owl continued.

"Ugh." Finn sighed.

He shivered slightly as a feeling washed over him, one that was familiar to him from his years of dealing with insane wizards. He ripped opened the door and dived through it. He felt the heat of the flame as it passed by him and slammed into the building through the door he opened. The concussive force of the fireball threw him forward on his face. His hands shot out hitting the ground and pushing himself back on his feet

Taking a quick glance behind him, Finn's face blanched as the small building was quickly consumed in flames by the spell. _Bennett is probably dead now, I guess._

The soldiers surrounded Finn and attacked before he could get his head on straight. Finn was forced to move on instincts alone to avoid getting skewered. They came at him with everything they had, and he returned it readily.

To Finn's surprise though their blows were so slow and sluggish that it was no problem for him to dance around them, while his every strike hit true.

He was winning at first, but Finn knew from experience that sooner or later he would get tired and from there it would only take one lucky blow to see him dead.

_If you can break through their line to the left, you'd have a clear shoot at the front gates._

Owl's voice startled Finn and he almost got a spear in the stomach for it, but he twisted to the side and only received a scape along his waist. Finn trusted her and followed Owl's advice, he feinted going right catching the soldiers attention before he took off running to the left.

The speed of his sudden movement took the soldiers of guard and he was heading towards the gates before they knew what he was doing. With his enhanced body Finn quickly outpaced the guards and left them behind.

"Close the Gates!" Someone shouted behind Finn.

The gates in question were two thick heavy metal doors large enough for a carriage to drive through and took as Finn saw an incredible amount of effort to open and close when he first walked up. If they were closed before Finn could pass them, he would find himself surrounded again.

Such were the thoughts going to Finn's head as he passed through the gates before the soldiers standing guard could react.

"**String Shot**!"

Spinning as he passed through the gates Finn slashed at the air with his sword, back in its candy form. A thin arc of gum pouring out from his swing, connected to the two gates. The line quivered for a moment then with a welching sound contracted slamming the gates together and gluing them shut.

Finn didn't pause to congratulate himself instead taking the information he had learned and running off into the forest as night fell. 


End file.
